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SPEECH OF THOMAS MORRIS, OF OHIO, 

•- , ,- IN THE U."S. SENATE, FEBRUARY 9, 
PUBLISHED BY" JACKSON & C 




It has been deemed advisable to re-publish the 
Speech of Mr. MORRIS in the Senate of the Unit- 
ed States, in 1839, in answer to Mr. Clay's labored 
defense of the slave system. The step appears to 
us peculiarly appropriate at the present time. The 
perforinance has great merit of itself It presents 
with force and fidelity the promuient points of the 
controversy which has so long, and with such varied 
effects, been pressed, between uncurbed tyramiy, on 
the one hand, and constitutional, just freedom, on 
ihe jither. The position of the two men is interest- 
ing in itself 

Mr. Claj!-is now the Presidential candidate of a 
powerful party, who wield unscrupulously any 
means to secure his election. Mr. Morris, too, is 
the candidate for Vice President of a young, grow- 
ing, enthusiastic party. They urge his claims on 
the score of principle, honesty, and capacity. The 
Injers now have a lair oppoi* unify to judge between 
them. Mark well their habits of thinking, strength 
of reason, and currents of moral feeling, and decide 
upon (heir merits respectively in these aspects. 

Let il not be forgotten, that the Speech of 18.39 
'is Mr. Clay's present creed. He has recently refer- 
red to it, and re-endorsed it, as the summary of his 
■faith on the subject of rights' and freedom. What 
that says he nmn holds to ! He, too, is the emhod- 
iment of Whig principles, as ihey (the Whigs) 
assertf! 

The circumstances under which Mr. Morris ap- 
peared before the Senate are worthy to be noted. 
It was near the close of his first term of service. 
From the popularity he had long enjoyed with his 
party, his re-election was quite sure, if he would 
.smother the convictions of his own bosom, and 
abandon'freedom to the grasp of its deadliest ene- 
mies. Thomas Morkis was not the man to do 
either. He spoke the language of a true Democrat 
and an hontst heart. A party corrupted to the 
core by the embraces of despotism, thrust him out, 
and by the infamous deed, in the eyes of good men, 
sealed their reprobation. He lives to plead the 
cause of the poor man — the equal rights of all 
men. — Thousands of tioie hearts gather around 
him, as the r^resentative of justice — mercy — 



equality .' Will not Democrats of the old school 
burst from the arms of a party which is the emblem 
of rottenness itself, and leap for joy to support tliis 
genuine son of ancient Democracy '? Mr. Morris 
is a plain, straight-forward talker, thinker, acter — 
the champion of the masses. He has had long and 
varied experience in public affairs. 

THE PUBLISHERS. 
Utica,/«?v/20,1844. 

INTRODUCTION. ^ 

Mn. President : — I rise to present for the con- 
sideration of the Senate, numerous petition.s signed 
by, not only citizens of my own state, but citizens of 
several other states, New York, Pennsylvania, Mich- 
igan, Illinois and Indiana. These petitioners, 
amounting in number to several thousands, have 
thought proper to make me their organ, in commu- 
nicating to Congress their opinions and wishes on 
subjects which, to them, appear of the highest im- 
portance. These petitions, sir, are on the subject 
of slavery, the slave trade as carried on within and 
from this District, the slave trade between the dif- 
ferent states of this Confederacy, between this 
country and Texas, and against the admission of 
that country into the Union, and also against that 
of any other state, whose constitution and laws re- 
cognize or permit slavery. I take this opportunity 
to present all these petitions together, having de- 
tained some of them for a considerable.tinie in my 
hands in (irder that as small a portion of the atten- 
tion of the Senate miglit 1)0 taken up on their ac- 
count as would be consistent with a strict regard lo 
the .rights of the petitioners. And now I present 
them under the most peculiar circumstances that 
have ever probably transpired in this or any other 
country. I present them on the heel of the petitions 
which have been presented by the Senator from 
Kentucky (Mr. Clay) signed by the inhabitants of 
this District, praying that Congress would not re- 
ceive petitions on the subject of slavery in the Dis- 
trict, from any body of men or citizens, but them- 
selves. This is something new ; it is one of the 
devices of the slave power, and most extraordinary 
in itself. These petitions I am in duty bound to 
present; a duty which I cheerfully perform, for J 
consider it not only a duty but an honor. The re- 
spectable names which these petitions bear, and be- 
ing against a practice, which I as deeply deprecate 
and deplore as they possibly can do, yet 1 well know 
the fate of these petitions; and I also know the 
time, place and disadvantage under which I present 
them. In availing myself of this opportunity to ex- 
plain my own views on this agitating topic, and to 



4 



explain and justify the character and proceedings of 
ilieso petitioners, it must bo obvious to all thnt 1 am 
iiurroutided with no ordinary discouragements. The 
srrpn'g prejudice which is evinced by the ))etilioner3 
loC^the District, the unwillingness of the Senate to 
hear, the power which is arrayed against me on this 
'occasion, .Hs well as in opposition to those whose 
lights 1 am anxious to maintain ; opposed by the 
v(M:y lipns of debate in this body, who are cheered 
on by an applauding gallery and surroundmg inter- 
ests, is enough to produce dismay in one far more 
able and eloquent than the lone and humble indi- 
vidual who now addresses you. What, sir, can 
there be to induce me to appear on this public are- 
na, opposed by such powerful odds? Nothing, sir, 
nothing but a strong sense of duty, and a deep con- 
viction that the cause I advocate is just ; that the p3- 
titioners whom I represent arc honest, upright, in- 
telligent, and respectable citizens ; men who love 
their country, who arc auKious to promote its best 
interests, and who are actuated by the purest patri- 
otism, as well as the deepest philanthropy and be- 
nevolence. In representing such men, and in such 
a cause, though by the most feeble means, one 
would suppose, though on the floor of the Senate of 
the United States, order, and a decent respect to 
the opinions of others, would prevail. From the 
causes which I have mentioned, I can hardly hope 
for this. I expect to proceed through scenes which 
ill become this hall ; but nothing shall deter me 
from a full and faithful discharge of my duty on this 
important occasion. Permit me, sir, to remind 
gentlemen that I have now been six years a member 
of this body. I have seldom, perhaps too seldom, 
in the opinion of many of my constituents, y)rcssed my- 
self upon the notice of the Senate, and taken up their 
time in useless and windy debate. I question very 
much if I have occupied the time of the Senate du- 
ring the six years as long as some gentlemen have 
during six weeks or even six days. I hope, there- 
fore, that I shall not be thought obtrusive, or charg- 
ed with taking up time, with abolition petitions. I 
hope, Mr. President, to hear no more about agita- 
ting this slave question here. Who has begun the 
agitation now ? The Senator from Kentucky (Mr. 
Clay.) Who has responded t'o that agitation, and 
congratulated the Senate and the country on its re- 
sults ? The Senator from South Carrjlina (Mr. 
Calhoun.) And pray, sir, under what circuinstan- 
ces is this agitation begun ? Let it be remembered, 
let us collect the facts from the records on yonr ta- 
ble, that when I, as a member of this body, but a 
few days since offered a resolution as the foundation 
of proceedings on these petitions, gentleinen, as if 
operated on by an electric shock, sprung from their 
seats and objected to its introduction. And when 
you, sir, decided that it was the right of every mem- 
)mt to introduce such motion or resolution as he 
pleased, being responsible to his constituents and 
this body, for the abuse of this right, gentlemen 
seemed to wonder that the Senate had no power to 
prevent the action of one of its members in cases 
like this, and the poor privilege of having the reso- 
lution printed, by order of the Senate, was denied. 

Let the Senator from South Carolina, before me, 
remember that, at the last session, when he offered 
resolutions on the subject of slavery, they were not 
only received without objection, but printed, voted 
on, and decided ; and let the Senator from Ken- 
tucky reflect that the petition which he offered 



against our right was also received and ordered (c 
be primed, without a single dissenting voice ; mid I 
call on the Senate and the country to remember, that 
the resolutions which T have offered on the same 
subject have not only been refijsed the printing, but 
have been laid on the table without being debated 
or referred. I^sterity which shall read the pro- 
ceedings of this time, may well wonder what power 
could induce the Senate of the United States to pro- 
ceed in such a strange and contradictory manner. 
Permit me to tell the country now what this power 
behind the throne, greater than the throne itself, is. 
It is the power of Slavkry. It is a power, accor- 
ding to the calculation of the Senator from Kentuc- 
ky, which owns twelve hundred millions of dollars 
in human beings as property, and if money is pow- 
er, this power is not to be conceived of, or calcula- 
ted ; a power which claims human property more 
than double the amount wdiich the whole money of 
the world could pm-chase. What can stand before 
this power ? Truth, everlasting truth, will yet over- 
throw it. This power is aiming to govern the 
country, its constitution and laws ; but it is not cer- 
tain of success, tremendous as it is, without foreign 
or other aid. Let it bo borne in mind that the bank 
power, some years since, during what has been 
called the panic session, had influence sufficient in 
this body, and upon this floor, to prevent the rece])- 
tion of petitions against the action of the Senate on 
their resolutions of censure against the President. 
The country took instant alarm, and the political 
complexion of this body was changed as soon as 
possible. The same power, though double in means 
and strength, is now doing the %ame thing. This is 
the array of power that-even now is attempting such 
an unwarrantable course in this country ; and the 
people are now also moving against the slave as 
they formerly did against the bank power. It, too, 
begins to tremble for its safety. What is to be 
done ? 'Why, petitions ai'c received and ordered to 
be printed against the right of petitions which are 
not received, and the whole power of debate is 
thrown into the scale with the slaveholding povvei;. 
But all will not do; these two powers m?ist now 
be tmited ; an amalgamation of the black power of 
the south with the white power of the north must 
take place, as either, separately, cannot succeed in 
the destruction of the liberty of speech and the 
press, and the right of petition. Let me tell gen- 
tlemen that both united will never succeed ; as I 
said on a former day, God forbid that they should 
ever rule this country. I have seen this billing and 
cooing between these different interests for some 
time past ; I informed my friends of the political 
party with which I have heretofore acted, during 
the first week of this session, that these powers 
were forming a union to overthrow the present ad- 
ministration : and I warned them of the folly and 
and mischief they were doing in their abuse of 
those who were opposed to slavery. All doubts 
are now terminated. The display made by the 
Senator from Kentucky (Mr Clay) and his denunci- 
ation of these petitioners as abolitionists, and the 
liearty response and cordial embrace which his ef- 
forts met from the Senator from South Carolina 
(Mr. Calhoun) clearly shows that new moves have 
taken place on the political chess-board, and new 
coalitions are formed, new comjn-omises and new 
bargains, settling and disposing of the rights of the 
country for the advantage of political aspirants. 



3 



Tho genllemaii from South Carolina (Mr. Cal- 
houn) seemed at the conchision of tho avgumont 
mado by tho Senator from Kentucky, to bo filled 
iint only with delight but with ecstacy. Ho told us 
that about twelve months since he had ofliired a 
resolution which turneil tlio tide, in favor of tho 
great principles of state rights, and says ho is hiirh- 
ly pleased with tho course taken by the Kentucky 
Senator. All is now safe by the acts of that Sena- 
tor. Tho south is now consolidated as one man ; it 
was a great epoch in our history, but wo have now 
passed it ; it is the beginning of a moral revolution ; 
slavery so far from being a political evil is a great 
blessing; both i-aces have been improved by it : anrl 
that abolition is now dead, and will soon bo forgot- 
ten. So far tho Senator from South Carolina, as I 
understand him. But, sir, is this really tho case ? 
Is the south united as one man, and is the Senator 
from Kentucky tho great centre of attraction ? What 
a lesson for the friends of the present administration, 
who have been throwing themselves into the arms 
iif tho southern slave power for support ! Tho black 
enchantment I hope is now at an end — tho dream 
dissolved, and we awake into open day. No long- 
er is there any uncertainty or any doubt on tlii.s sub- 
ject. But is tho great epoch passed; is it not ra- 
thiH- just beginning ? Is abolitionism dead — or is 
it just awaking into life? Is the right of petition 
strangled and forgotten — or is it increasing in 
strength and force? These are serious questions 
for the gentleman's -consideration that may damp 
tho ardor of his joy, if examined with an impartial 
mind, and looked at with an unprejudiced eye. Sir, 
when these [r^eans were sung over tho death of abo- 
lilionists, and of course their right to liberty of 
speech and tho press, at least in fancy's eyes, we 
might have seen them lying in heaps upon heaps 
like the enemies of the strong man in (!:'y> of old. 
Hut let me bring back tho genlln., :' ! ';mi:!i 
ihis delightful scene of abolition.: n- 

alities and solemn facts, [have i - , i a:! 

UK! tho names of thous:inds of livini; wilncsses iliat 
shivery has not (entirely concpierod liberty ; that ab- 
olitionists (for so are all these peiitioncr.s called) 
;ir<i not all dead. Those arc; my lirst piools to 
sliDW tho gentleman his ideas are all fancy. I havt; 
also, sir, since the commencement of this debate, 
received a news]!aprr, as if sent by i'rovidenc(> to 
suit tho occasion, and by whom I know not. It is 
the Cincinnati Republican of the 'Jd inst., which 
contains au e>;tract from tin- Louisvilli; Adviu'tiser, 
a paper printed in Fventncky, in Ijouisville. our sis- 
ter city : and though about one hundred and lifty 
miles below us, is but a few hours ilistauf. That 
iKiper is the leading Administration journal, too, as 
I am informed, in Kentucky. Mear what it says 
"0 the death of abolitionism : 

" Adoi.ition — Cincinnati — Thk Lotnsvrr.r.E 
Adv. — Wo copy tho following iiotii-i^ of an article 
which wo lately ))ublished, upon the subject of abo- 
lition movements in this quarter, from llu! Louis- 
ville Advertiser : 

" Atior.nroN. — Tho reader is referred loan inter- 
esting article which we havi; copied from tho Cin- 
cinnati Republiciui — a paper which lately supported 
the principles of Democracy ; a paper which has 
fumed, but not quite far enougli to act with the 
Adamses and Sladcs in Congress, or the whig abo- 
litionists in Ohio, It does not, however, give a 
correct view of the strength of tho abolitionists in 



Cincinnati. There they are in the ascendant. They 
control the city elections, regulate what may be; 
termed the morals of the city, give tone to public 
opinion, and " rule tho roost" by virtue of their su- 
perior piety and intelligence. The Republican tells 
us that they are not laboring Loco Focos — but 
" drones" and " consumers" — the " rich and well 
born," of course; men who have leisure and moans, 
and a disposition to employ the latter, to equalize 
whites and blacks in tho slaveholding states. Even 
now the absconding slave is perfectly safe in Cincin- 
nati. We doubt whether an instance can be addu- 
ced of the recovery of a runaway in that place in 
the last four years. When negroes reach the "Queen 
city," they are protected by its intelligence, its pie- 
ty and its wealth. They receive the aid of the elite 
of tho Buckeyes, and wo have a strong faction in 
Kentucky struggling zealously to make her one of 
the dependencies of Cincinnati! Let oiu- mutual 
sons go on. 'lHo day of our mutual retribution is at 
hand — much nearer than is now imagined. Tho 
Republican, which still looks with a friendly eye to 
the slaveholding states, warns us of the danger 
which exists, although its new born zeal for whig- 
gery prompts it to insist, indirectly, on the right of 
petitioning Congress to aboli.sh slavery. There are 
about two hundred and fifty abolition societies in 
Oliio at the present time, and from the circular is- 
sued at head quarters, Cincinnati, it appears that 
agents are to bo sent through every county to dis- 
tribute books and pamphlets designed to inllamethe 
public mind, and then organize additional societies 
— or, rather, form new plans, to aid in the war 
which has been commenced on the slaveholding 
states." 

I do not, sir, underwrite for the truth of this state- 
ment as an entire whole, much of it I repel as an un- 
just charge on my fellow citizens of Cincitmati ; but 
as it comes from a slaveholding state — from the 
state of the Senator who has so elorpiently anathe- 
matized abolitionists that it is almost a pity they 
could not die utidcr such sweet sounds — and as tho 
South Carolina Senator pronounces thorn dead ; 1 
proiliioe this from a slaveholding state for the spe- 
ii;i! ') n-Miisolation of the two Senators. It 

(■ • ircc to which I am sure both gen- 

ii'' ' i;ivo credit. But suppose, sii-, that 

aliolll iiinisiu i> dead, is liberty dead also and slave- 
ry triumphant ? Are liberty of speech and the press, 
and the right of petition also dead ? True, it has 
been strangled here ; but gentlemen will find them- 
selves in great error if they suppose it is also stran- 
gled in tho country ; and tho very attempt in legis- 
lative bodies to sustain a local and individual inter- 
est, to tluj destruction of our rights, proves that 
those rights are not dead, but a living principle 
which slavery cannot extinguish; and be my lot 
what it may, I shall, to the utmost of my abilities, 
under all circumstances, and at all times, contend 
for that freedom which is the common gift of tho 
Creator to all men, and against the power of tliese 
two great interests — the slave power of the south, 
and tho banking power of the north — which are now 
uniting to rule this country. The cotton bale and 
the bank nolo have formed an alliance; tho credit 
system with slave labor. Those two congenial 
spirits have at last met and embraced each other, 
both looking to the same object — to live on the un- 
requited labor of others — and have now erected for 
themselves a common platforin, as was intimated 



during the last session, on which they can meet, and 
bid defiance, as they hope to free principles and free 
labor. 

With these introductory remarks, permit me, sir, 
to say here, and let no one pretend,;to misunderstand 
or misrepresent me, that I charge gentlemen, when 
they use the word abolitionists, they mean petition- 
ers here such as I now present — men who love lib- 
erty, and are opposed to slavery — that in behalf of 
these citizens I speak ; and, by whatever name 
they maybe called, it is those who are opposed to 
slavery, whose cause I advocate. I make no war 
upon the rights of others. I do no act but what is 
moral, constitutional and legal, against the pecu- 
liar institutions of any State ; but act only in de- 
fence of my own rights, of my fellow citizens, and 
above all, of my state. I shall not cease while the 
current of life shall continue to flow- 

I shall, Mr. President, in the rarther considera- 
tion of this subject, endeavor to prove, first the 
right of the people to ])etition ; second, why slavery 
is -wrong, and why I am opposed to it; third, the 
power of slavery in this country, and its dangers, 
next, answer the question so often asked, what have 
free states to do with slavery ? Then make some 
remarks by way of answer to the arguments of the 
Senator from Kentucky (Wr Clay.) 

PETITIONS OF THE PEOPLE. 

Mr. President, the duty I am requested to per- 
form is one of the highest which a Representative 
can be called on to discharge. It is to make known 
to the legislative body the will and the wish of his 
constituents and fellow citizens; and in the present 
case, I feel honored by the confidence reposed in 
me, and proceed to discharge the duty. The peti- 
tioners have not trusted to my fallible judgment 
alone, but have declared, in written documents, the 
most solemn expression of their will. It is true 
these petitions have not been sent here by the whole 
people of the United States, but from a portion of 
them only ; yet such is the justice of their claim, 
and the sure foundation upon which it rests, that no 
portion of the American people, until a day or two 
past, have thought it either safe or expedient to pre- 
sent counter petitions ; and even now, when coun- 
ter petitions have been presented, they dare not jus- 
tify slavery, and the selling of men and women in 
this District, but content themselves with objecting 
to others enjoying the rights they practice, and 
praying Congress not to receive or hear petitions 
from the people of the states — a new device of 
slave power this, never before thought of or prac- 
ticed in any country. I would have beon gratified 
if the inventors of this system, which denies to 
others what they practice themselves, had in their 
petition attempted to justify slavery and the slave 
trade in this district, if they believe the practice just, 
that their names might have gone down to posterity. 
No sir; very few yet have the moral courage to re- 
cord their names to such an avowal : and even some 
of these petitioners are so squeamish on this subject 
that they might, from conscientious principles, be 
prevented from holding slaves. Not so, sir, with 
the petitioners which I have the honor to represent: 
they are anxious that their sentiments and their 
names should be made matter of record : they have 
no qualms of conscience on the subject — they have 
deep convictions and a firm belief that slavery is an 
existing evil, incompatible with the principles of 



political liberty, at war with our system of govern- 
meiit, and extending a baleful and blasting influence 
over our country, withering and blighting its fairest 
prospects and brightest hopes. Who has said that 
these petitions are unjust in principle, and on that 
ground ought not to be granted ? Who has said 
that slavery is not an evil ? Who has said it does 
not tarnish the fair fame of our country 7 Who has 
said that it does not bring dissipation and feeble- 
ness to our race, and poverty and wretchedness to 
another, in its train ? Who has said it is not un- 
just to the slave and injurious to the happiness and 
the best interests of the master ? Who has said it 
does not break the bond of human affection, by sep- 
arating the wife from ihe husband, and children 
from their parents ? In fine, who has said it is not 
a blot upon our country's honor, and a deep and foul 
stain upon her institutions ? Few, very few ; per- 
haps none but him who lives upon its labor, regard- 
less of its misery ; and even many whose local in- 
stitutions are within its jurisdiction, acknowledge its 
injustice, and deprecate its continuance, while mil- 
lions of freemen deplore its existence, and look for- 
ward with strong hope to its final termination. — 
St,AVERY! a word; like a secret idol, thought too ob- 
noxious or sacred to be pronounced here but by 
those who worship at its shrine, and should one who 
is not such a worshipper happen to pronounce the 
word, the most disastrous consequences are imme- 
diately predicted, the Union is to be dissolved, and 
the South to take care of itself. 

Do not suppose, Mr. President, that I feel as if 
engaged in a forbidden or improvident act. No such 
thing. lam contending with a local and "peculiar^ 
interest, an interest which has already banded to- 
gether a force sufficient to seize upon every avenue 
by which a petition can enter this chamber, and ex- 
clude all without its leave. I am not now con- 
tending for the rights of the negro, rights which his 
Creator gave him and which his fellow man has 
usurped or taken away. No sir ! I am contending 
for the rights of the white person in the free states, 
and- am endeavoring to prevent them from being 
trodden down and destroyed by tlwt power which 
claims the black person as proper/y. 1 am endeav- 
oring to sound the alarm to my fellow citizens that 
this power tremendous as it is, is endeavoring to 
unite itself with the money power of the country, in 
order to extend its dominion and perpetuate its ex- 
istence. I am endeavoring to drive from the back 
of the negro slave the politician who has seated 
himself there to ride into office for the purpose of 
carrying out the object of this unholy combination. 
The chains of slavery are sufficiently strong without 
being rivited anew by tinkering politicians in the 
free states. To say that I am opposed to slavery in 
the abstract, they are but cold and unmeaning words 
— if, however capable of any meaning whatever, 
they may fairly be construed into a love for its exis- 
tence ; and such I sincerely believe to be the feel- 
ing of many in the free states who use the phrase. 
I, sir, am not only opposed to slavery in the abstract, 
but also in its whole volume, in its theory as well as 
practice. This principle is deeply implanted within 
me; it has "grown with my growth, and strength- 
ened with my strength." In my infant years I 
learned to hate slavery. Your fathers taught me it 
was wrong in their declaration of independence ; 
— the doctrines which they promulgated to the 
world, and upon the truth of which they staked the 



'issue of the contest that made us a nation. They 
proclaimed " that all men are created equal ; that 
they are endowed by their Creator with certain un- 
alienable rights ; that amongst these are life, liber- 
ty, and the pursuit of happiness." These truths are 
solemnly declared by them. 1 believed then, and 
believe now, they are all self-evident. Who can ac- 
knowledge this and not be opposed to slavery ? It 
is, then, because I love the principle which brought 
your government into existence, and which have be- 
•come the corner stone of the building supporting 
you sir, in that chair, and giving to myself and oth- 
er Senators seats in this body — it is because I love 
all this, that I hate slavery. Is it because I con- 
tend for the right of petition, and am opposed to 
slavery, that I have been denounced by many as an 
abolitionist? Yes; Virginia newspapers have so 
denounced me, and called upon the legislature of 
my state to dismiss me from public confidence. Who 
taught me to hate slavery, and every other oppres- 
sion ? Jefferson, the great and good Jefferson ! — 
Yes, Virginia Senators ! it was your own .leffer- 
son, Virginia's favorite son, a man who did more for 
the natural liberty of man, and the civil liberty of 
his country, than any man that ever lived in our 
country ; it was he who taught me to hate slave- 
ry ; it was in his school I was brought up. That 
Mr. Jefferson was as much opposed to slavery as 
any man that ever lived in our country, there can be 
no doubt ; his life and his writings abundantly prove 
the fact- I hold in my hand a copy, as he penned 
it, of the original draft of the declaration of inde- 
pendence, a part of which was stricken out, as he 
says, in compliance with the wishes of South Caro- 
lina and Georgia. I will read it. Speaking of the 
wrongs done us by the British Government, in in- 
troducing slaves amongst us, he says : " He (the 
British King) has waged cruel war against human 
nature itself, violating its most sacred right of life 
and liberty in the persons of a distant people, who 
never offended him, captivating and carrying them 
into SLAVERY in another hemisphere, or to incur 
miserable death in their transportation thither. — 
This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel 
powers is the warfare of the Christian King of 
Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market 
where men should be bought and sold, he has 
prostituted his prerogative for suppressing every le- 
gislative attempt to prohibit or restrain this execra- 
ble commerce, and that this assemblage of horrors 
might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now 
exciting those very people to rise in arms against us, 
and purchase that liberty of which he has deprived 
them by murdering the people on whom he also ob- 
truded them, thus paying off former crimes commit- 
ted against the liberties of one people, with crimes 
which he urges them to commit against the lives of 
another." 

WRONG OF SLAVERY. 

Thus far this great statesman and philanthropist. 
Had his contemporaries been ruled by his opinions, 
the country had now been at rest on this exciting 
topic. What abolitionist, sir, has urged stronger 
language than Mr. .Jefferson has done ? "Cruel war 
against human nature," " violating its most sacred 
rights," "piratical warfare," "opprobium of infidel 
powers," " a market where men should be bought 
and sold," "execrable commerce," "assemblage of 
horrors," "crimes committed against the liberty of a 



people," are the brands which Mi\ Jefferson has burn- 
ed into the forehead of slavery and the slave trade. 
When, sir, have I, or any other person opposed to 
slavery, spoken in stronger and more opprobrious 
terms of slavery than this '! You have caused the 
bust of this great man to be placed in the centre of 
your Capitol, in that conspicuous part where every 
visitor must see it, with his hand resting on the de- 
claration of independence, engraved upon marble. 
Why have you done this ? Is it not mockery 7 Or 
is it to remind us continually of the wickedness and 
danger of slavery ? I never pass that statue without 
new and increased veneration for the man it repre- 
sents, and increased repugnance and sorrow that he 
did not succeed in driving slavery entirely from the 
country. Sir, if I am an abolitionist, .lefferson made 
me so ; and I only regret that the disciple should be 
so far behind the master, both in doctrine and prac- 
tice. But, sir, other reasons and other causes have 
combined to fix and establish my principles in this 
matter, never, I trust, to be shaken. A free state 
was the place of my birth, a free territory the thea- 
tre of my juvenile actions. Ohio is my country, en- 
deared to me by every fond recollection. She gave 
me political existence, and taught me in her politi- 
cal school ; and I should be worse than an unnatural 
son, did I forget or disobey her precepts. In her 
constitution it is declared, " That all men are born 
equally free and independent," and that " there 
shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in 
the state, otherwise than for the punishment of 
crimes." Shall I stand up for slavery in any case, 
condemned as it is by such high authority as this ? 
No, never ! but this is not all. Indiana, our younger 
western sister, endeared to us by every social and 
political tie, a state formed in the same countiy as 
Ohio, from whose territory slavery was forever ex- 
cluded by the ordinance of July, 1787 — she too, has 
declared her abhorrence of slavery in more strong 
and emphatic terms than we have done. In her 
constitution, after prohibiting slavery, or involuntary 
servitude being introduced into the state, she de- 
clares, " But as to holding any part of the human 
creation in slavery, or involuntary servitude, can 
originate only in tyranny and usurpation, no alter- 
ation of her constitution should ever take place, so 
as to introduce slavery or involuntary servitude into 
the state, otherwise than for the punishment of 
crimes whereof the party had been duly convicted." 
Illinois and Michigan also formed their constitutions 
on the same principles. After such a cloud of wit- 
nesses against slavery, and whose testimony is so 
clear and explicit, as a citizen of Ohio, I should he 
recreant to every principle of honor and of justice, to 
be found the apologist or advocate of slavery in any 
state, or in any country whatever. No, I cannot be 
so inconsistent as to say I am opposed to slavery in 
the abstract, in its separation from a human being, 
and still lend my aid to build it up, and make it 
perpetual in its operation and effects upon man iu 
this or any other country. I also, in early life, saw 
a slave kneel before his master, and hold up his 
hands with as much apparent submission, humility, 
and adoration, as a man would have done before 
his Maker, while his master, with outstretched rod, 
stood over him. This, I thought, is slavery ; one 
man subjected to the will and power of another, and 
the laws affording him no protection, and he has to 
beg pardon of man, because he has offended man, 
(not the laws) as if his master were a superior and 



an powerful being. Yes, this is slavery, boasted 
American slavery, without which it is contended 
even here that the union of these states would be 
dissolved in a day; yes, even in an hour! Humilia- 
ting thought, that we are bound together as states by 
the chains of slavery! It cannot be ; the blood and the 
tears of slavery form no part of the cement of our 
Union — and it is hoped that by falling on its bands 
they , may never corrode and eat them assunder. — 
We, who are opposed to and deplore the existence 
of slavery in our country, are frequently asked, both 
in public and private, what have you to do with 
slavery ? It does not exist in your state ; it does 
not disturb you ! Ah, sir, would to God it were so 
— that we had nothing to do with slavery, nothing 
to fear from its powers, or its action within our own 
borders, that its name and its miseries were un- 
known to us. But this is not our lot; we live upon 
its borders, and in hearing of its cries ; yet we are 
unwilling to acknowledge, that if we enter its terri- 
tories and violate its laws, that we should be punished 
at its pleasure. We do not complain of this, though 
it might well be considered just ground of com- 
plaint. It is our firesides, our rights, our privileges, 
the safety of our friends, as well as the sovereignty 
and independence of our state, that we are now 
called upon to protect and defend. The slave inter- 
est has at this moment the whole power of the 
country in its hand. It claims the President as a 
Northern man with Southern feelings, thus making 
the Chief Magistrate the head of an interest, or a 
party, and not of the country and the people at 
large. It has the cabinet of the President, three 
members of which are from slave slates, and one 
who wrote a book in favor of southern slavery, but 
which fell dead from the press, a book which I have 
seen in my own family thrown musty upon the shelf. 
Here then is a decided majority in favor of the slave 
interest. It has five out of nine judges of the Su- 
preme Court; here, also is a majority from the slave 
states. It has, with the President of the Senate, 
and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
and the clerks of both Houses, the army and navy ; 
and the bureaus, have, I am told, about the same 
proportion. 

POWER OF SLAVERY. 

One would suppose that, with all this power op- 
erating in this government, it would be content to 
permit — yes, I will use the word permit — it would 
be content to permit us, who live in the free states, 
to enjoy our firesides and our homes in quietness ; 
Jbui this is not the case. The slaveholders and slave 
laws claim that as property, which the free states 
,know only as persons, a reasoning property, which 
of its own will and mere motion, is frequently found 
in our states; and upon which thing we sometimes 
i)estow food and raiment, if it appear hungry and 
perishing, believing it to be a human being ; this, 
perhaps, is owing to our want of vision to discover 
the process by which a man is converted into a 
'jHiNG. For this act of ours, which is not prohibit- 
ed by our laws, but promj)ted by every feeling, 
christian and humane, the slaveholding j)owcr en- 
ters our territory, tramples under foot the sover- 
eignty of our state, violates the sanctity of private 
residence, seizes our citizens, and disregarding the 
authority of our laws, transports them into its own 
jurisdiction, casts them into prison, confines them in 
fetters, and loads them with chauis for pretended of- 



fenses against our laws, found by willing grand juries 
upon the oath (to use the language of the late govern- 
or of Ohio,) of a perjured villain. Is this fancy, or is 
it fact, sober reality, solemn fact ? Need I say all 
this, and much more, is now matter of history in the 
case of the Rev. John B. Mahan, of Brahen county, 
Ohio. Yes, it is so ; but this is but the beginning — 
a case of equal outrage has lately occurred, if news- 
papers are to be relied on, in the seizure of a citizen 
of Ohio, without even the forms of law, and who was 
carried into Virginia and shamefully punished by 
tar and feathers, and other disgraceful means, and 
rode upon a rail, according to the order of Judge 
Lynch, and this, only because in Ohio he was an ab- 
olitionist. 

Would I could stop here — but I cannot. This 
slave interest or power seizes upon persohs of color 
in our State, carries them into States where men an; 
property, and makes merchandise of them, some- 
times under sanction of law, but more properly by 
its abuse, and sometimes by mere personal force, 
thus disturbing our quiet and harassins: our citizens. 
A case of this kind has lately occurred, where a col- 
ored boy was seduced from Ohio into Indiana, taken 
from thence into Alabama and sold as a slave ; and 
to the honor of the slave States, and gentlemen 
who administer the laws there, be it said, that many 
who have thus been taken and sold by the conniv- 
ance, if not downright corruption, of citizens in the 
free States, have been liberated and adjudged free 
in the States where they have been sold, as was the 
case of the boy mentioned, who was sold in Alabama. 
The slave power is seeking to establish itself in 
every State, in defiance of the constitution and laws 
of the States within which it is prohibited. In or- 
der to secure its power beyond the reach of the 
States it claims its parentage from the Constitution 
of the United States. It demands of us total silence 
as to its proceedings, denies to our citizens the lib- 
erty of speech and the press, and punishes them by 
mobs and violence for the exercise of these rights. 
It has sent its agents into free States for tiie purpose 
of influencing their legislatui-es to pass laws for the 
security of its power within such State, and for the; 
enacting new oflences and new punishments foi- their 
own citizens, so as to give additional secuiity to its 
interest. It demands to be heard in its own person 
in the hall of our legislature, and mingle in debatt; 
there — Sir, in every stage of these oppressions ami 
abuses, permit me to say, in the language of the 
declaration of independence — and no language could 
be more appro])riate — we have petitioned for rcdrcs^i 
in the most humble terms, and our repeated peti- 
tions have been answered by repcatetl injury. 

WHAT HAVE WE TO DO WITH SLAVERY ? 

A power, whose character is marked by every act 
which may define a tyrant, is unfit to rule over rt 
free people. In our sufferings and our wrongs, wp 
have besought our fellow-citizens to aid us in thrr 
preservation of our constitutional rights, but influ- 
enced by the love or gain of arbitrary power they 
have sometimes disregarded all the sacred rights of 
man, and answered in violence, burnings, and mrn-- 
der. After all these transactions, which ;>.re now oi' 
public notoriety and matter of record, shall we ni 
the free states tauntingly be asked, what we have to 
do with slavery ? We should rejoice, indeed, if the 
evils of slavery 'were removed far from ns, that it 
could be ?aid with truth, that we have nothing to '!o 



villi slavei^. Our citizens have not entered its ter- 
liiDiies fi)r lIio jiurpose of obstructing its laws ; nor 
tlo we wisli to «lo so, nor would we justify any indi- 
vidual in such act ; yot wo have been branded and 
stigmatized by its friends and advocates, both in the 
free and slave States, as incendiaries, fanatics, dis- 
organizers, enemies to our country, and as wishing 
to dissolve the Union. We have borne all this, 
without complaint or resistance, and only ask to be 
secure in our persons, by our own firesides, and in 
the free exercise of our thoughts and opinions in 
speaking, writing, printing, and publishing on the 
subject of slavery, that which appears to us to be 
just and right; because we all know the power of 
truth, and that it will ultimately prevail, in despite 
of all opposition. But in exercise of all these rights, 
we acknowledge subjection to the laws of the State 
ill which we are, and our liability for their abuse. 
We wish peace with all men ; and that the most 
amicable relations anol free intercourse may exist 
between the citizens of our State and our neighbor- 
ing slaveholding States; v/e will not enter their 
slates, eillier in our proper persons, or by commis- 
sioner, legislative resolution, or otherwise, to inter- 
fere with their slave policy or slavo»la\vs ; and we 
shall expect from them and their citizens a like 
return, that they do not enter our territories for 
the purpose of violating our laws in the punishment 
of our people for the e.xcrcise of their undoubted 
rights — the liberty of speech and of the press on the 
subject of slavery. We ask that no man shall be 
seized and transported beyond our state in violation 
of our own laws, and that we shall not be carried into 
and imprisoned in another state for acts done in our 
own. Wo contend that the slaveholding power is 
properly chargeable with all the riots and disorders 
which take place on account of slavery. We can 
live in peace with all our sister states ; if that pow- 
er will be controlled by law, each can exercise and 
enjoy the full benefits secured by their own laws, 
and this is all we ask. If we hold up slavery to 
llic view of an impartial jTublic as it is, ami if such 
view creates astonishment and indiynaiimi, surely 
wo are not to be charged as libellers. A slate insti- 
tution ought to be considered the pride, not the shame, 
of the state; and, if we fiilsify such institutions, the 
disgrace is ours, not theirs. If slavery, however, is 
a blemish, a blot, an eating cancer in the body poli- 
tic, it is not our fault if by holding it up, otliers 
should see in the mirror of truth, its dofonniiy, and 
shrink back from the view. We have nnt. ;iii(l \v(^ 
intend not, to use any weapons againsi >Livrry. but 
the moral power of truth, and the forco of |iulilic 
opinion. If we enter the slave slates, and tamper 
with the slave contrary to law, punish us; we de- 
serve it; and if the slaveholder is found in a free 
state, and is guilty of a breach of the law there, he 
also ought to be punished. These petitioners, as 
far as I understand them, disclaim all right to enter 
a slave state for the purpose of intercourse with the 
.slave. It is the master whom they wish to address ; 
and they ask and ought to receive protection from 
the laws, as they arc willing to be judged by the 
laws. We invite into the arena of public discussion 
in our state, the slaveholder; we are willing to hear 
his reasons and facts in favor of slavery or against ab- 
olition ; we dp not fear his errors while we are our- 
selves free to combat them. The angry feelings 
which in some degree exist between the people of 
the free and slaveholding states on account of slave- 



ry, are, in many cases, properly chargeable to those 
who defend and support slavery. Attempts are al- 
most daily making to force the execution of slave 
laws in the free States; at least, their power and" 
principles ; and no term is too reproachful to be' 
applied to those who resist such acts, and contend' 
for the rights secured to every man under their own 
laws. We are often reminded that wo ought to 
take color as evidence of property in a human be- 
ing. We do not believe in such evidence, nor do 
we believe that a man can justly be made property 
by human laws. We acknowledge, however, that 
a man, not a thing, may be held to service or labor 
under the laws of a state, and if he escape into 
another state, he ought to be delivered upon claim 
of the party to whom such labor or service may l)e 
due; that this delivery ought to be in pursuance of 
the laws of the state where such person is found, 
and not by virtue of any act of Congress. 

MR. CLAY'S PETITIONERS. 

This brings me, Mr. President, to the considera- 
tion of the petition presented by the senator from- 
Kentucky, and to an examination of the views he 
has presented to the Senate on this highly important; 
subject. Sir, I feel, I sensibly feel, my inadequacy 
in entering into a controversy with that old and 
veteran senator; but nothing high or low shallprc- 
vent me from an honest discharge of my duty here. 
If imperfectly done, it may be ascribed to the want 
of ability, not intention. If the power of mind, and 
the strength of my body, were e(jual to the task, I: 
would arouse every man, yes, every woman and 
child in the country, to the danger which beset them, . 
if such doctrines and views as are presented by the 
senator should ever be carried into effect. His 
denunciations are against abolitionists, and under- 
that term are classed all those who petition Con- 
gress on the subject of slavery. Such I understand 
to be his argument, and as such I shall treat it. — 
I, in the first place, put in a broad denial to all his- 
general facts, charging this portion of my fellow- 
citizens with improper motives, or dangerous de- 
signs. That their acts are lawful, he does not pre- 
tend to deny. I call for proof to sustain his charges. 
None such has been offered, and none such exists, 
or can be found. I repel them as calumnies double- 
distilled in the alembic of slavery. I deny them,. 
also, in the particulars and inferences; and let us 
see upon v\'hat ground they rest, or by what process 
of reasoning they are sustained. 

The very first view of these petitioners against 
nur rip:!n ef petition, strikes the mind that more is 
iiiKMhlid iliaii ;ii first meets the eye. Why was the 
coin;iiinee on tlie District overlooked in this case 
and the senator froiri Kentucky made the organ of 
communication ? Is it understood that anti-aboli- 
tionism is a passport to popular favor, and that the 
action of this District shall present for that favor to 
the public a gentleman upon this hobby ? Is this 
petition presented as a subject of fair legislation? 
Was it solicited by members of Congress, from 
citizens here, for political effect ? Let the country 
judge. The petitioners state that no persons but 
themselves are authorized to interfere with slavery 
in the District ? that Congress arc their own legisla- 
ture ; and the question of slavery in the District is 
only between them and their constituted legisla- 
tors ; and they protest against all interference of 
others. But, sir, as if ashamed of tliis open posi- 



lion in favor of slavery, they in a very coy manner 
say that some of them are not slaveholders, and 
might be forbidden by conscience to hold slaves. — 
There is more dictation, more political heresy, more 
dangerous doctrine contained in this petition, than 
I have ever before seen couched together in so many 
words. We ! Congress their own legislator in all 
that concerns this District ! Let those who may put 
on the city livery, and legislate for them and not for 
his constituents, do so ; for myself, I came here with 
a different view, and for different purposes. I came 
a free man, to represent the people of Ohio; and I 
intend to leave this as such representative, without 
wearing any other livery. Why talk about execu- 
tive usurpation and influence over the members of 
Congress ? I have always viewed this District in- 
fluence as far more dangerous than that of any 
other power. It has been able to extort, yes, extort 
from Congress millions to pay District debts, make 
District imj)rovements, and in support of the evil and 
criminal jurisprudence of the District. Pray, sir, 
what right has Congress to pay the corporate debts 
of the cities in the District more than the debts of 
the corporate cities in your State and mine ? None, 
sir. Yet this has been done to a vast amount; and 
the next stop is, that we, who pay all this, shall not 
be permitted to petition Congress on the subject of 
their institutions; for, if we can be prevented in 
one case, we can in all possible cases. Mark, sir, 
how plain a tale will silence these petitioners. If 
slavery in the District concerns only the inhabitants 
and Congress, so do all municipal regulations. — 
Should they extend to granting lottery, gaming 
houses, tippling-houses, and other places, calculated 
to promote and encourage vice, should a represen- 
tative in Congress be instructed by his constituents 
to use his influence, and vote against such establish- 
nients, and the people of the District should in- 
struct hitn to vote for them, which should he obey ? 
To state the question is to answer it ; otherwise the 
boasted right of instruction by the constituent body 
is " mere sound," signifying nothing. Sir, the in- 
habitants of this District are subject to State legis- 
lation and State jiolicy ; they cannot complain of 
this, for their condition is voluntary ; and as this 
city is the focus of power, of influence, and con- 
sidered also as that of fashion, if not folly, and as 
the streams which flow from here irrigate the 
whole country, it is right, it is jiropcr, that it should 
be subject to State policy and State power, and not 
used as a leaven to ferment and corrupt the whole 
body politic. 

EFFECT OF REPEATED PETITION. 

The honorable senator has said the petition, though 
from a city, is a fair expression of the opinion of the 
District. As such I treated it, am willing to ac- 
knowledge the respectability of the petitioners and 
their rights, and I claim for the people of my own 
State equal respectability and equal right that the 
people of the District are entitled to : any peculiar 
rights and advantages I cannot admit. 

I agree with the Senator, that the proceedings on 
abolition petitions, heretofore, have not been the 
most wise and prudent course. They ought to have 
been referred and acted upon. Such was my object, 
a day or two since, when I laid on your table a 
resolution to refer them to a committee for inquiry. 
You did not suffer it, sir, to be printed. The 
country and posterity will judge between the people 



whom I represent, and those who caused to be print- 
ed the petition from the city. It cannot be possible 
that justice can have been done in both cases. The 
exclusive legislation of Congress over the District is 
as much the act of the constituent body, as the 
general legislation of Congress over the States, and 
to the operation of this act, have the people within 
the District submitted themselves. I cannot, how- 
ever join the senator, that the majority, in refusing 
to receive and refer petitions, did not intend to 
destroy or impair the right in this particular. They 
certainly have done so. 

The senator admits the abolitionists are now 
formidable; that something must be done to produce 
harmony. Yes, sir, dojustice, and harmony will be 
restored. Act impartially, that justice may be 
done : hear petitions on both sides, if they are 
offered, and give righteous judgments, and your 
people will be satisfied. You cannot compromise 
them out of their rights, nor lull them to sleep with 
fallacies in the shape of reports. You cannot con- 
quer them by rebuke, nor deceive them by sophistry. 
Remember you cannot now turn public opinion, nor 
can you overthrow it. You must, and you will, 
abandon the high ground you have taken, and 
receive petitiffns. The reason of the case, the 
argument, and the judgment of the people, are all 
against you. One in this cause can "chase a thous- 
and," and the voice of justice will be heard when- 
ever you agitate the subject. In Indiana, the right 
of petition has been most nobly advocated in a pro- 
test, by a member against some puny resolutions of 
the legislature of that State to whitewash slavery. 
Permit me to read a paragraph worthy of an 
American freeman : 

" But w^ho would have thought, until lately, that 
any would have doubted the right of petition in a, 
respectful manner to Congress ? Who would have 
believed, that Congress had any authority to refuse 
to consider the petitions of the people ? Such a 
step would overthrow the Autociat of Russia or 
cost the grand Seignior of Constantinople his head. 
Can it be possible therefore, that it has been re- 
served for a Republican Government, in a land 
boasting of its free institutions, to set the first pre- 
cedent of this kind ? Our city councils, our courts 
of justice, every department of government, are 
approached by petition, however ujitinswerable, or 
absurd, so that its terms are respectful. None go 
away unread or unheard. The life of every indi- 
vidual is a perfect illustration of the subject of 
petitioning. Petition is the language of want, of pain, 
of sorrow, of man in all his sad variety of woes, im- 
ploring relief, at the hand of some power superior to 
himself. Petitioning is the foundation of all govern- 
ment, and of all administrations of laws. Yet it 
has been reserved for our Congress, seconded in- 
directly by the vote of this legislature, to question 
this right, hitherto supposed to be so old, so heaven 
deeded, so undoubted, that our fathers did not think 
it necessary to place a guaranty of it in the first 
draft of the Federal Constitution. Yet this sacred 
right has been at one blow, driven, destroyed, and 
trodden under the feet of slavery. The old bul- 
warks of our Federal and State Constitutions seem 
utterly to have been forgotten, which delare, that 
the freedom of speech and the press shall not b<> 
abridged, nor the right of people peaceably to as- 
semble and petition for the redress of their griev- 



(CL,\SSIFI(JATION <.U«' ABOLITIONISTS. 

These sir, -.in' tin- srntii.iPiiH whirl, ,nake aU,li- 

aijiiHt;; I'uriirhhiMi' :nnl sri :il imiiuhl ail youf COUII- 
eils inl' llril- (ISC! I hli)','. . i'lii' llnliin ;ihle SCIlUtOr 

,,ot iiiilv ;i.!m;i!- iliii :i ! i> ■ ' I imi , i J s ani lorniidable, 
tiutili.il ilii'.ci, ,!■ ,1 -. f-i's. Tlie fViHud.s 
of hinii iii!r\ Mi.u ;: .> ■ , > ■ actiuited hy tho.^e 

prjnci|ilivs, LMiMpus,. ,i;m- i-iii--.. Iliese form a very 
numerous cla.,s aii(i the acknowlfdgm.MiC of ih.; 
senator proves tiio imrnutal)le principk'S upon whiL-h 
•opposition t(> slavery ivsls. Men are oppcjsid to it 
from principles of humanity cind justice — men are 
abolitionists, he admits, on that a,c:rouiit. We thank 
the senator for teachinic us that word ; we intend to 
improve it. The next class of abolitionists, the 
senator says, are so, apparently, for the purpose of 
advocating- the right of prtition. What are we to 
understand from this? That the right of petition 
Jieeds advociicy. Who has denied this right, nv 
who has uttemplod to abridge it .' The slavehold- 
ing power, that power which avoids open discus- 
sion, and the free exercise of opinion ; it is that 
power alone which renders the advociicy of the 
right of petition necessary, having seized upon all 
iho powers of the government. It is fast uniting 
together those opposed to its iron rul(^ no mailer 
to what polilical i>aiiy thi'y have li.-retolnr,- lielong- 
ed ; they are united with the first class, aiid aci from 
principles of humanity and juslici" ; and if the ini-is 
Tifid shades of siavevy were t)ot llii> atiiai-^liliere in 
which gentlemen were enveloped, ihey would see 
constant and increasing numbt.'rs of our most worlliy 
«nd intelligent citizens attaching themselves to the 
two cliisses raentioneil, and rallying under the ban- 
ners of abolitionism. . They are compelled to go 
there, if the gentlemi;n will have it so, in order to 
• defend and perpetuate the liberties of thi; country. 
The hopes of the oppressed spring up afresh from 
diis discussion of tln' gentleman. 

The third class, the senator says., are those xvlio 
.■,o accomplish their ends, act without regard to con- 
sequences. To them, all tlie rights of projierty, of 
he States, of the Union, tlie senalm- says, are noth- 
ng. He says they aim atpiher objects than those 
chey profes.s — emancipation in the District of Co- 
lumbia. No, says the senator, their object is itni- 
versa! emancipation, not only in this District, but 
in the territories ajid in the .Stales. Their ohje.-i is 
to set free three millions of negro slaves. Who 
made the senator, in bis place here, the censor of his 
fellow citizens / Who authorized hira to charge 
them with other objects than tluise they profess? 
How long is it since the senator himself, on this 
floor, denounced slavery as an evil? What other 
inducements or objects had he then in view? Sup- 
pose universal emancipation to b<^ the object of these 
petitioners; is it not a nobJe and praiseworthy ob- 
ject; worthy of the christian, the philanthropist, the 
statesman, and the citizen ? But the senator says, 
they [the petitioners] aim to excite one portion of 
the country against another. I deny, sir, this charge, 
and call for the proof; it is gratuitous, uncalled for, 
and, unjust towards my fellow citizens. This is the 
language of a stricken conscience, seeking fur the 
palliation of its own acts, by charging guilt upon 
others. It is the language of those who, failing in 
argumein,, endeavor to cast suspicion upon the char- 
acter of their opponents, in order to draw public at- 
tention from themselves. It is the language of dis- 
B 



gusie and con-.u'tdment, and not that of fair and 
honorable investigation, the object (jf which is truth. 
I again put in a broad denial f> tliis charge that any 
portion of these pi'tiiioiiei , n-Jimih I represent, seek 
to excite one porl ion ul ihe ((niiii i \ a^ainst another; 
and without proof! cannot adinli that the assertion 
of the honorable senator establishes the fact. It is 
but opinion, ami naki'd assertion only. The senator 
complains tliat the means and views of the abolition- 
ists are no confined to securinof the riglil of petition 
oiiiv; no. they resort to other means, he afhrmsj to 
tJie' BALLOT BOX; and if that fail, says the sena- 
tor, ilieir next apjieal will bo to the bayonet- Sir, 
no man who is an .American in feeling and in heart, 
but ought to repel tins charge in-tantly, and without 
any reservation whatever, that if they fail at the bal- 
lot box they will resort lo the bayonet. If such a 
fratricidal conise shoidd ever be thought of in our 
country, it will not be by those wdio seek redress of 
wrongs, by e.\ercising the ri^dit of petition, but by 
those only who deny tiiat right to others, and seek to 
Usurp tlie whole jjower of government. If the bal- 
lot box fail them, the bayonet may be their resort, 
as mobs and violence now are. Does the senator 
believe! that any porlion of the honest yeomanry of 
the country entertain such thought ? I hope he 
does not. if thoughts of this kind exist, they are 
lo be found in the hearts of aspirants to ofSce, and 
their adla-reuis and none others. Who, sir, is ina- 
kiim ihis qnesii.a. a polilical affair.? Not the peti- 
iiouers. It v\as ilie slavehojding power which fiist 
made this niovi^ i have noticed for some time 
past that many of the public prints in this fiity, as 
well as elsewhere, have been filled with essays 
against abolitionists for exercishig the rights of free- 
men. 

APTLY THE B.ALLOT BOX. 

Both polilical parties, however, have courted 
them in private and denounced them in -public, mid 
boih have e pially deceived them. And who shall 
diire say that an abolitionist has no right to carry 
his principles lo the ballol box? Who fears the 
ballot box '! The honest in heart, the lover of our 
coimlry and its institutions ? No, sir ! It is feared 
by thi; tyrant; lie who usiir[)S power,, and seizes up- 
on the iiherty of (ithers ; he, for one fears the ballot. 
box. Where is the slave to party in tliis country 
who is so lost to his own digniiy, or so corrupted 
by interest or power, that he Joes not, or will not, 
carry his principles and his judgment into the ballot 
box? Such an one ought to have the mark of Cain 
in his forehead and be sent to labor among the ne- 
gro slaves ol the Soutli. The honorable senator 
seems anxious to take under his care the ballot box, as 
he has the slave system of the country, and direct who 
shidi or wlio shall not ulse it for a redress of what they 
deem a political grievance. Suppose the pow- 
er of the Executive chair should take under its care 
the right of voting, and should prosciibe any portion 
of our citizens who should carry with them to tho 
jiolls of election their own opinions, creeds, and doc- 
trines. This would at once be a death blow to our 
liberties, and the remedy could only be found in rev- 
olution. There can be no excuse or pretext for rev- , 
olution while the ballot box is fjee. Our Govern- 
ment is not one of force, but of jjiincipl"^ ; its foun- 
dation rests on public opinion, and its hope is in the 
morality of the nation. The moral power of that of 
the ballot box is suiScieni to correct all abuses. 



10 



Let me, then, proclaim here, from this high arena, 
to the citizens not only of my own state, but to the 
country, to all sects nnd parlies who are entitled to 
the right of suffrage, to the ballot box! civrry with 
you honei<tly your own sentiments respecting the 
welfare of your country, and make them operate as 
efTeclually as you can, through that medium, upon 
its policy and for its prosperity. Fear not the frowns 
of power. It trembles while it denounces you. The 
senator complains that the abolitionists have associ- 
iited with the politics (jf the country. So far as I 
am capable of judging, this chaige is not wpII found- 
ed; many politicians of the country have used abo- 
litionists as stepping stones to mount into pow-er ; 
and, when there, have turned about and traduced 
them. He admits that political parties are willing 
to unite with them any class of men, in order to car- 
ry their purposes. Are abolitionists then, to blame 
if they pursue the same course 1 It seems the sen- 
ator is willing that his party should make use of ab- 
olitionists; but he is not willing that abolitionists 
should use the same party for their purpose. This 
seems to be in accorda'uce with that equality of 
rights about which we have heard so much at the 
last session. Abolitionists have nothing to fear. If 
public opinion should be for them, politicians will 
be around and amongst them as thick and as noisy 
as the locusts of Egypt. The senator seems to ad- 
mit that, if the abolitionists are joined to either po- 
litical party, there is danger — danger of what? 
That humanity and justice will prevail? that the 
right of petition will be secured to AI.L EQUALLY ? 
and that the long lo^^t and trodden African race will 
be restored to their natural rights? Would the 
senator regret to see this accompli-hed by argument, 
persuasion, and the force of an enlightened public 
opinion T I hope not; and these petitioners ask the 
nse of no other weapons in this warfare. 

GLIMPSE AT THE DISTRICT OF 
COLUMBIA. 
These ultra abolitionists, says the senator, invoke 
the power of this government to their aid. And 
pray, sir, what power should they invoke ? Have 
they not the same right toappioach this Government 
as other men ? Is the senator or this body au- 
thorized to deny them any privileges secured to 
other citizens ? If so, let him show me the char- 
ter of his power, and I will be silent. Until he can 
do this, I shall uphold, justify, and sustain them, as 
I do other citizens. The exercise of power by Con- 
gress in behalf of the slaves within this District, the 
senator seems to think, no one without (he District 
has the least claim to ask for. It is because I 
reside without the District, anfl am called wiihin it 
by the Constitution, that 1 object to the existence 
of slavery here. I deny the gentleman's position, 
then, on this point. On this, then, we are equal. — 
The senator, however, is at war with himself. He 
contends that the object of the cession by the states 
of Viiginia and Maryland, was to establish a seat 
of government only, and to give to Congress what- 
ever power was necessary to rentier the District a 
valuable and comfortable situation for that purpose 
und that Congress have full power to do whatever 
is necessary for this District ; and if to abolish sla- 
very be necessary, to attain the object. Congress 
have power to abolish slavery in the District. I 
ara sure I quote the gcntlomaii substantially ; and I 
thank him for this precious confession in his argu 



ment, it is what I believe, and I know it is all 1 
feel disposed to ask. If wo can, then, prove thai 
this District is not as comfortable and convenient a 
place for the deliberations of Congress, and the 
comfort of our citizens who may visit it, while 
slavery exists here, as it would be without slavery, 
then slavery ought to be abolished ; and I trust 
we shall have the distinguished senator from Ken- 
tucky, to aid us in this great national reformation. 
I take the senator at his word. I agree with him 
that this ought to be such a place as he has describ- 
ed ; but I deny that it is so. And upon what 
facts do I rest my denial ? We are a Christian 
nation, a moral and religious people. I speak for 
the free slates, at least for my own state: and what 
a contrast does the very streets of our Capital 
daily present to the Christianity and morality of tho 
nation ? A race of slaves, or at least colored per- 
sons, of every hue, from the jet black African, in 
regular gradation, up to the almost pure Anglo- 
Saxon color. During the short time official duty 
has called me here, I have seen the really red 
haired, the freckled, and the almost white negro ; 
and I have been astonished at the numbers of the 
mixed race, when compared with those of full color, 
and I have deeply deplored this stain upon our na- 
tional morals ; and the words of Dr. Channing 
have, thousands of times, been imj)ressed on my 
mind, that, " a slave country reeks with licentious- 
ness." How comes this amalgamation of the laces ? 
It comes from slavery. It is a disagreeable annoy- 
ance to persons who come from the free states, es- 
j)ecially to their Christian and moral feelings. It 
is a great hindrance to the proper discliarge of 
their duties while here. Remove slavery from this 
District and tins evil will disappear. We argue 
this circumstance alone as sufficient cause to pro- 
duce that effect. But slavery presents within the 
District other and still more appalling scenes — scenes 
well calculated to awaken the deepest emotions of 
the human heart. The slave trade exists here ill 
all its HORROits, and unwhipped of all its crimes. 
In view of the very chair which you now occupy. 
Mr. President, if the massy walls of this building^ 
did not prevent it, you could see the prison, the pen ^ 
the h — I, where human beings, when purchased for 
sale, are kept until a cargo can be procured for 
transportation to a Southern or foreign market, for 
I have little doubt slaves are carried to Texas for 
sale, though I do not know the fact. 

Sir, since Congress has been in session, a mourn- 
ful group of these unhappy beings, some thirty or 
forty, were marched as if in derision of members of 
Congress, in view of your capitol, chained and 
manacled together, in open daylight, yes, in the very 
face of heaven itself, to be shijjped at Baltimore for 
a foreign market. I did not witness this cruel 
transaction, but speak from what I have heard and 
believe. Is this District, then, a fit place for our 
deliberations, whose feelings are outraged with im- 
punity with transactions like this? Suppose, sir, 
that mournful and degrading spectacle was at this 
moment exhibited under the windows of our cham- 
ber, do you think the Senate could deliberate, could 
continue with that composure and attention which 
I see around me? No sir; all your pow/ers could 
not preserve order for a moment* The feelings of 
humanity would overcome those of regard for the 
peculiar institutions of the states ; and though wc 
would be politically and legally bound not to inter- 



11 



fere, we are not morally bound to withhold our 
sympathy, and our execration in witnessing such 
inhuman traffic. 

This traffic alone, in this District, renders it an 
uncomfortable and unfit place for your seat of g;overn- 
ment. Sir, it is but one or two years since I saw 
standins; at the railway depot, as I passed from my 
boarding house to this chamber, some large v/ajj- 
•ons and teams, a^s if waiting for freight; the cars 
had not then arrived. I was inquired of, when I 
returned to my lodgings, by my landlady, if 1 knew 
the object of those wagons which I saw in the 
morning. I replied, I did not; I suppose they came 
and were waiting for loading. "Yes, for slaves," 
said she; "and. one of those wagons was filled 
with little boys and little girls, who had been bought 
up through the country, and were to be taken to a 
Southern market. Ah, sir," continued she, "it 
made my very heart ache to see them." The very 
recital, unnerved and unfitted me for thought or re- 
flection on any other subject for some time. It is 
scenes like this, of which ladies of my country and 
my state complained in their petitions, some time 
since, as rendering this District unpleasant, should 
they wish to visit the Capital of the nation as wives, 
sisters, daughters, or friends of members of Con- 
gress. Yet, sir, these respectable females were 
treated here with contemptuous sneers ; they were 
compared on this floor to the fish women of Paris, 
who dipped their fingers in the blood of revolution- 
ary F'rance. Sir, if the transaction in slaves here, 
which I have mentioned, could make such an im- 
pression on the heart of a lady, a resident of the 
District, one who had been used to slaves and 
was probably an owner, what would be the feelings 
of ladies from free states on beholding a like trans- 
action ? I will leave every gentlemen and every 
lady to answer for themselves. I am unable to 
describe it. Shall the caphol of your country lon- 
ger exhibit scenes so revolting to humanity, that the 
ladies of your country cannot visit it without disgust ? 
No; wipe off the foul stain, and let it become a 
suitable and comfoitable place for the seat of govern- 
ment. The tienator, as if conscious that his argu- 
ment on this point had proved too much, and of 
course had proven ih^ CDUverse to what he wished 
to establish, concludiid this part, by saying, that if 
slavery is abolished, the act ought to be confined to 
the city alone. We thank him for this small sprink- 
ling of correct opinion upon this arid waste of public 
feeling. Liberty may yet vegetate and grow even 
here. 

The senator insists that the states of Virginia and 
Maryland would never have ceded this District, if 
ihey had thought slavery would ever have been 
abolished in it. This is an old story twice told : 
It was never, however, thought of until the slave 
power imagined it, for its own security. Let the 
states ask a retrocession a£ the District, and I am 
sure the free States will rejoice to make the grant. 

The senator condemns the abolitionists for desiring 
that slavery should not exist in the Territoiies, 
even in Florida. He insists that by the treaty, the 
inhabitants of that country have the right to remove 
their kffects when they please, and that, by this 
condition, they have the right to retain their slaves 
as effects indepeiidently of the power of Congress. 
I am no diplomatist, sir, but I venture to deny the 
conclusion of the senator's argument. In all our 
intercourse with foreign nations, in all our treaties 



in which the words " goods, offsets, "' &c., are used, 
slaves have never been considered a» included. In 
all cases in which slaves are the subject matter of 
controversy, they are specially named by the word 
" slaves," and, if I remember rightly, it has been 
decided in Congress, that slaves are not property for 
which a compensation shall be made when taken for 
public use (or rather slaves cannot he considered as 
taken for public use,) or as property by the enemy, 
when they are in the service of the United States. 
Tf I am correct, as I believe I am in the position I 
have assumed, the gentleman can say nothing V)y 
this part of his argument, against abolitu»nists, for 
asking that slavery shall not exist in Florida. 

SLAVERY UNDER THE CONSTITUTIO.\. 

The gentleman contends that the power to re- 
move slaves from one state to another, for sale, is 
found in that part of the Constitution which gives 
Congress the power to regulate commerce within the 
states, &,c. This argument is non xequitur, unless 
the honorable senator can first prove that slaves are 
proper articles for commerce. We say that Con- 
gress have the power over slaves only as persons.— 
The United States can protect persons, hiU cannot 
muke ihem pi operti/, and they have full power in 
regulating commerce, and can, in such regulations, 
prohibit from its operations every thing but proper- 
ty ; property, made so by the laws of nature, and 
not by any municipal regulations. The dominion of 
man over things, -is |)roperl.y, was settled by hi» 
Creator when man was first placed upon the earth. 
He was to subdue the earth and have doininicm over 
the fish of the sea, and fowls of the air, and over 
every living thing that moveth upon the earth ; 
every herb bearing seed, and the fruit of a tree 
yielding seed, was given for its use. This is the 
foundation of all right in property of every descrip- 
tion. It is for the use of man the grant is made, 
and of course he cannot be included in the grant. 
Every municipal regulation, then, of any state, or 
any of its peculiar institutions, which man makes 
property, is a violation of this great law of nature, 
and is founded in usurpation and tyranny, is accom- 
plished by force, fraud, or an abuse of power. It 
is a violation of the principles of truth and justice, 
in subjecting the weaker to the stronger man. In a 
Christian nation such property can form no just 
ground for commercial regulations, but ought to bo 
strictly prohibited. I therefore believe it is the duty 
of Congress, by virtue of tliis power to regulate 
commerce, to prohibit, at once, slaves being used a« 
articles of trade. 

The gentleman says, the Constitution left the 
.subject of slavery entirely to the states. 'I'o tin* 
position I assent; and, as the states cannot regu- 
late their own commerce, but the snme being the 
right of Congress, that body cannot make slaves an 
article of commerce, because slavery is left entirely 
to the states in which it exists, and slaves witliin 
those states, according to the gentleman, are ex- 
cluded from the power of C(uigress. Can Congress 
in regulating commerce among the several states, 
authorize the transportation of articles from one 
state and their sale in another, which they have not 
power so to authorize in any stale T 1 cannot be- 
lieve in such doctrine; and I now solemnly protest 
against the power of Congress to aiithoriro the trnnB- 
pnrtation to, and the sale in Ohio, of any riegTA 



12 



rtlavp wharever, or for nny possiljlc purj^nisn uncTer 
the Run. Who is there in Ohio, or elsewhero, that 
will dare deny this position ? If Ohio contains such 
a rerresiit to her Constitution and policy, 1 hopn he 
may have the boldness to stand forth and avow it. 
If the states in which slavery exists love it as a house- 
hold ^od, let them keep it there, and not mil upon' 
us in the free states to offi"r incense to their idi)l. — 
We do not seek to touch it with unhallowed luuid^, 
but with pure hands, upraised in the cause (if truth 
and suffering humanity. 

The gentleman admits that at the formation of 
our government, it was feared that slavery might 
eventually divide or distract our country ; and as 
the BALLOT BOX seems continually to haunt his ima- 
gination, he says there is real danger of dissolution 
of the Union,, if abolitionists, as is evident they do, 
w-ill carry their principles into the ballot box. Jf 
not disunion in fact, at least in feeling, in the coun- 
try, which is always the precursor to the clash of 
arms. And the gentleman further says, we arc 
taught by holy writ, " the race is not to the swift, 
not the battle to the strong." The moral of the gen- 
tleman's argument is, that truth and righteousness 
will pFevi>il, though opposed by power aixl influence 
— that ab(»litionists, though few in number, are 
greatly to be feared ; one, as I have said, may cliase 
a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight; and, 
as their weapons of warfare are not " carnal, but 
mighty to the pulling down of strong holds," even 
slavery itself, and as the ballot box is the gn-at moral 
lever in political action, the gentleman would exclude 
abolitionists entirely from its use, and l~dr opinion's 
sake, deny them this high privilege of every Ameri- 
can citizen. Permit me, sir, to remind the gentle- 
man of another text of holy writ. " The wicked 
flee when no man pursueih, but the righteous are 
bold as a lion." The senator says thst those who 
have slaves, are sometimes supposed to be under too 
much alarm. Does this prove the application of 
the text I have just quoted/ " Conscince some- 
times makes cowards of us all." The senator ap- 
peals to abolitionists, and beseeches them to cease 
their efforts on the subject of slavery, if they wish, 
5av9 Jie, "to exercise their benevolence." What! 
abolitionists benevolent? He hopes they will select 
.some object not so terrible. Oh, sir, he is willing 
they should pay tithes of " mint and rue," but the 
weightier matters of the law, judgment and m^rcy, 
he would have them entirely overlook. I ought to 
thank the senator for introducing holy writ into this 
debate, and inform him his argument sare not the 
sentiments of Him, who, when on earth, went about 
doing good. 

APPEAL TO MINISTERS. 

The senator further enti-eats the clergy to desist 
from their efforts in behalf of abolitionism. Who 
authorized the senator, as a politician, to use his in- 
fluence to point out to the clergy upon what they 
should preach, or for what they should pray? — 
Would ihe senator dare exert his power here to bind 
the conscience of men ? I think not. By what rule 
of ethics, then, dues he undertake to use his, influ- 
ence from this high place of povver, in order to gain 
the same object, I am at a loss to determine ? Sir, 
this movement of the senator is far more censurable 
and flangerous,as an attemjttto iHiite church and slate 
than were the petitions against Sunday mails, the 
report in opposition to which gained for you, Mr. 



President, so mnch applaiije ill the cotintr}-. I, sir, 
also appeal to the clergy to maintain their rights of' 
conscience; and if they believe slavery to be a sin. 
we ought to honor anrl respect them for open denun- 
ciation of it, rather than call on them to desist, for, 
between their conscience and their God, we have no 
power to interfere ; we do not wish to make them 
political agents for any purpose. 

APPEAL TO WOMEN. 

But the senator is not content to entreat the cler- 
gy alone to desist; he calls on his countrywomen to 
warn them, also, to cease their efforts, and reminds 
tliem that the ink shed from the pen held in their 
fair fingers when writing their names to abolition peti- 
tions, may be the cause of shedding much human bloodf 
Sir, the language towards this class of petitioners is 
very much ciianged of hile; they formerly were pro- 
nounced idlers, fanatics, old women and school-miss- 
es, unworthy of respect from intelligent and 're- 
spectable men. I warned gentlemen then, that they 
would change their language ; the blows they aimed 
fell harmless at the feet of those whom they were in- 
tended to iiijure. In this movement of my countrywo- 
men I thought was plainly to be discovered the opera- 
tion of Providence, and a sure sign of the final triumph 
o^ universal emnneijialinn I All history, both sacred' 
and profani?, both ancient and modern, bears testi- 
mony to the efficacy of female influence and power 
in tlie cause of human liberty. From the time of the 
pri'servntion. by the hands of women, of the great 
.leu isii lawgiver, in his infimtile hours, and who was 
preserved for the purpose of freeing his countrywo- 
men from Egyptian bondage, has n-oman been made 
n powerful agent in breaking to pieces the rod of 
the oppressor. With a ])ure and uncontaminatod 
mind, her actions spring from the deepest recesses 
of the human heart. Denounce her as you will, you 
cannot deter her from duty. Pain, sickness, want, 
poverty, and even death itself form no obstacles to 
her onward march. Even the tender virgin would 
dress as a martyr fi>r the stake, as for her bridal 
hour, rather than make sacrifice of her purity and 
duty. The eloquence of the Senate, and clash of 
arms are alike powerless when brought in opposi- 
tion to the influence of pure and virtuous woman. — 
The liberty of the slave seimied now to be commit- 
ted to her charge, and who can doubt her final tri- 
umph f I do not. You cannot fight against her 
and hope for success; and well does the senator 
know this; hence this appeal to her feelings, to ter- 
rify her from that which she believes to be her duty. 
It is a vain attempt. 

Thesonato^r says that it was the principles of the 
Coiistitiifion which carried us through the revolution. 
Surely it was; and to use the language of another 
senator from a slave state, on a former occasion, 
these are the very principles on which the abolition- 
ists plant themselves. It was the principle that all 
men are born FitliK and i^quaL that nerved the arm of 
our forefathers in their contest for independence. It 
was f )!• the natural and inherent rights of man they 
contended. It is a libel upon the Constitution to 
say that its object was not liberty, but slavery for 
millions of the human race. 

DISSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 
The senator, well fearing that all his eloquence 
and arguments thus fararebntas chaff, when weighed 
in the balance against truth and justice, seems to 



13 



find oonsolatian in Hip ulca, and says that which op- 
poses the ulteriar object of abolitionists, that the 
general governim^nt has no power to act on the svib- 
^ect of slavery, and that ih'- ( 'on~l itntion or Union 



would not last an hr 



•led 



ercised by Congress. U is .•ihiucrij, /.ken, not lib- 
erty, that maken us one people. To dissolve slave- 
ry, is to dissolve the Union. Why require of us to 
support the Constitution by oath, if the Constitution 
itself is subject to the power of slavery, and not the 
moral power of the country? Change the form of 
the oath you administer to senators on taking seats 
here, swear them to support slavery, and, according' 
To the topic of the gentleman, the Constitntion and 
the Union will botli be safe. We hear almost daily 
threats of dissolving the union, and whence do they 
come? From citizens of free states? No! From 
the slave states only. Why wish to dissolve it? — 
The reason is plain, that a new government may be 
firmed, by which we, as a nation, may be made a 
slaveholding people. No impartial observer of pass- 
in": events, can, in my simple judgment, doi^bt the 
truth of this. The senator thinks the abolitionists in 
error, if they wish the slaveholder to free his slave. 
He asks, why denounce him ? I cannot admit the 
truth of the question; but I might well ask the gen- 
tleman, and the slaveholders getierally, " why are 
you angry at me, because I tell you the truth ?" It 
is the light of truth which the slaveholder cannot en- 
dure ; a plain unvarnished tale of what slavery is, 
he considers a libel upon himself. The fact is, the 
slaveholder feels the leprosy of slavery upnn him. — 
He is anxious to hide the odious disease from the 
the public eye, and the ballot boK and the right of 
petition, when used against him, he feels it a sharp 
reproof; and being unwilling to renounce his errors, 
lie tries to escape from their consequences, by mak- 
ing the world believe that he is the persecuted, and 
not the persecutor. Slaveholders have said here, 
during this very session, " the fact is, slavery will 
not bare examination." It is the senator who de- 
nounces abolitionists for the exercise of their most 
unquestionable rights, while abolitionists condemn 
that only whi.-h the senator himself will acknowl- 
edge to be wrong at all times and under all circum- 
stances. Because he admits that if it was an origi- 
nal question whether slaves should be introduced 
among us, but few citizens would be found to agree 
to it, and none more opposed to it than himself. The 
argument is, that the evil of slavery is incurable; 
that the attempt to eradicate it would commence a 
struggle which would exterminate one race or the 
other. Wliat a lamentable picture of our govern- 
ment, so often pronounced the best upon earth I The 
seeds of disease, which were interwoven into its 
first existence, have now become so incorporated in- 
to its frame, that they cannot be extracted without 
dissolving the whole fabric; th.it we must endure the 
evil without hope and without complaint. Our very 
natures must be changed before vi'e can bo brought 
tamely to submit to this doctrine. The evil will be 
remedied; and to use the language of .lefferson 
again, " this people will yet be free." The senator 
finds consolation, however in the midst of this exist- 
ing evil, in color and taste. The black race (says 
he) is the strong ground of slavery in our country. 
Yes, it is color, not right and justice, that it is to 
continue f.irever slavery in our country. It is pre- 
judice ag-ainst color, which is the strong ground of 
the slaveholder's hope. Is that prejudice founded 



in nature, or is tt the effect of a base and sordid i 
terost? Let the inixed race which we see her 
from black to almost perfect white, springing froi 
white fathers, answer this question. Slavery has r 
just foundation in color; it rests exclusively upc 
usurpation, tyranny, and oppressive fraud and fore 
These were its parents in every age and country ' 
the. world. 

THE TWELVE HUNDRED MILLION DOl 
LARS STOCK. 
The Senator says, the next or greatest ditlicuii 
to emancipation is, the am'>unt of property it won! 
take from the owners. All ideas of right and wroi 
are confounded in these words; emancipate propi^ 
ty, emancipate a horse, or an ox, would not only I 
an unmeaning but a ludicrous expression. To ema 
cipate is to set free from slavery. To emancipu 
is to set free a man, not property. The Senator p 
timafes the number of slaves — men now held 
bondage — at three millions in the United States, 
this statement made here by the same voice whi( 
was heard in this Capitol in favor of the liberties 
Greece, and for the emancipation of our South Amc 
ican brethren from political thraldom ? Itis ; and h 
all its fervor in favor of liberty been exhausted upi 
foreign countries, so as nf)t to leave a single wh 
per in favor of three millions of men in our ov 
country, now groaning under the most galling c 
pression the world ever saw? No, sir. Sordid i 
terest rules the hour. Men are made property, ai 
paper is made money, and the Senator, no doul 
sees in these two peculiar institutions a power whi 
if united, will be able to accomplish all his wislie 
He informs us that some have computed the slav 
to be worth the average amount of $.')00 each. I 
will estimate within bounds of $400 each. Maki 
the amount twelve hundred millions of dollars' woi 
of slave property. I heard this statement, JM 
President, with emotions of the deepest feeling, 
what rule of political or commercial arithme 
does the senator calculate theamount of property 
human beings? Can it be fancy or fact, that I hf 
s ich calculation, that the people of the Unit 
States own twelve hundred millions (double I 
amount of all the specie in the world) worth of p 
perty in human fl.'sh! And this property is owm 
the gentleman informs us, by all classes of socie 
forming part of all our contracts within our o 
country and in Europe. I should have been gli 
sir, to have been spared the hearing of a declarat 
of this kind, especially from the high source and i 
place from which it last emanated. But the ass 
tion has gone forth that we have twelve hundi 
millions of slave property at the south ; and can r 
man so close his understanding here as not plai 
to perceive that the power of this vast amount 
property at the south is now uniting itself to 
banking power of the north, in order to govern 
destinies of this country ? Six hundred million! 
banking capital is to be brought into this coaliti 
and the slave power and the bank power are t 
to unite in order to break down the present adn 
istration. There can be no mistake, as I believe 
this matter. The aristocracy of the north, who, 
the power of a corrupt banking system, and the a 
tocracy of the south, by the power of the slave s 
torn, both fattening upon the labor of others, 
now about to unite in order to make the reigi 
each perpetual. Is there an independent Ameri 



14 



I be fouiicl, who will become the recreant slave to 
jch an unholy combination ? Is this another 
Dmpromise to barter the liberties of the country for 
Brsonal aggrandizement? " Resistance to tyrants is 
Ijeriience to God." 

The senator further insists " that what the law 
lakes property is property." Tliis is the predicate 
' the gentleman ; he has neither facts nor rpa>on 
I prove it ; yet upon this alone does he rest the 
hole case that negroes are property. I deny both 
le predicate and the argument. Suppose the Ic- 
slature of the senator's own state should pass a 
w declaring his wife, his children, his friends, in- 
;od, any white citizen of Kentucky, property, and 
lould they be sold and transferred as such, would 
e gentleman fj|d his arms and say, " Yes, they 
■e property, for the law has made them such ?" — 
o, sir: he would denounce such laws with more 
'liemence than he now denounces abolitionists, 
id would deny the authority of human legislation 
accomplish an object so clearly beyond its power. 
Human laws, I contend, cannot make human be- 
2:s property, if human force can do it. If it is 
mpetent for our legislatures to make a black man 
operty, it is competent for them to make a white 
in the same; and the same objection exists to the 
iwer of the people in an organic law for their own 
vernment; they cannot make property of each 
ler, and, in the language of the Constitution of In- 
ana, such an act "can only originate in usurpation 
d tyranny." Dreadful, indeed, would be thecon- 
;ion of this country, if these principles should not 
ly be carried into the ballot box. but into the Pres- 
3ntial chair. The idea that abolitionists ought to 
y for the slaves if they are set free, and that they 
ght to think of this, is addressed to their fears, 
d not to their judgment. There is no principle 
morality or justice that should require them or 
r citizens generally to do so. To free a slave is 
take from usurpation that which it has m ide pro- 
rty and given to another, and bestow it upon the 
htful owner. It is not taking properly from its 
le owner for public use. Men can do with their 
'n as they please, to buy their peace if they wish, 
t cannot be compelled to do so. 

RETARDING EMANCIPATION. 

The gentleman repeats the assertion that has 
en repeated a thousand and one times ; that abo- 
lonists are retarding the emancipation of the slave 
d have thrown it back fifty or a hundred years ; 
It they have increased the rigors of slavery, and 
used the master to treat his slave with more se- 
rity. Slavery, then, is to cease at some period : 
d because the abolitionsts have said to the slave- 
Ider, " Now is the accepted time," and because 
thinks this an improper interference, and not 
vingthe abolitionists in his power, he inflicts his 
igeance on his unoffending slave. The moral of 
s story is, the slaveholder will exercise more cru- 
y because he is desired to show mercy, I do not 
/y the senator the full benefit of his argument. It 
no doubt a true picture of the feelings and princi- 
;3 which slavery engenders in the breast of the 
ister. It is in perfect keeping with the threat we 
nost daily hear; that if petitioners do not cease 
!ir efforts in the exercise of their constitutional 
hts, others will dissolve the Union. These, how- 
=r, ought all to be esteemed idle assertions and 
e threats. 



The senator tells tis that the consequence arising 
from the freedom of slaves, would be to reduce the 
wages of the white laborer. He has furnished us 
with neither data nor fact upon which this opinion 
can rest. He, however, would draw a line, on one 
side of which he would place the slave labor, and on 
the other side free white labor; and \ooking over 
the whole as a general system, both would appear 
on a perfect equality. 1 have observed, for some 
years past, that the southern slaveholder has insist- 
ed that his laborers are, in point of integrity, moral- 
ity, usefulness, and comfort, equal to the laboring 
population of the north. Thus endeavoring to raise 
the slave in public estimation, to an equality with 
the free white laborer of the north; while, on the 
other hand, the northern aristocrat has, in the same 
manner, viz : by comparison, endeavored to reduce 
his laborers to the moral and political condition of 
the slaves of the south. It is for the free white 
American citizen to determine whether they will 
permit such degrading comparisons loneer to exist. 
Already has this spirit broken forth in denunciation 
of the right of universal suffrage. Will free 
white laboring citizens take warning before it is too 
late? 

AMALGAMATION ! 

The last, the great, the crying sin of abolitionists 
in the eyes of the senator, is that they are opposed 
to colonization, and in favor of amalgamation. It 
is not necessary now to enter into any of the bene- 
fits and advantages of colonization ; the senator has 
pronounced it the noblest scheme ever devised by 
man ; he says it is powerful but harmless. I have 
no knowledge of any resulting benefits from the 
scheme to either race. I have not a doubt as to the 
real object intended by its founders ; it did not arise 
from principles of humanity and benevolence to- 
wards the colored race, but a desire to remove the 
free of that race beyond tlie United States, in order 
to perpetuate and make slavery more secure. The 
senator further makes the broad charge, that aboli- 
tionists wish to enforce the unnatural system of 
amalgamation. We deny the fact, and call on the 
senator for proof. The citizens of the free states, 
the petitioners against slavery, the abolitionists of 
the free states in favor of amalgamation ! No, sir! 
If you want evidence of the fan, and reasoning in 
support of amalgamation, you must look into the 
slave states ; it is there it spreads and flourishes from 
slave mothers, and presents all possible colors and 
cemplexions, from the jet black African, to the 
scarcely to be distinguished white person. Does 
any one need proof of this fact? let him lake but a 
few turns through the streets of your Capital, and 
observe those whom he .shall naeet, and he will be 
perfectly satisfied. Amalgamation, indeed ! The 
charge is made with very bad grace on the present 
occasion. No, sir, it is not the negro woman, it is 
the slave and the contaminating influence of slavery , 
that is the mother of amalgamation. Does the gen- 
tleman want facts on this subject? Let him look 
at the colored race in the free states ; it is a rare 
occurrence there. A colony of blacks, some three 
or four hundred, were settled, some fifteen or twen- 
ty years since, in the county of Brown, a few miles 
distant from my former residence in Ohio, and I 
was told by a person living near them, a country 
merchant with whom they dealt, when conversing 
with him on this very subject, he informed mc he 



15 



knew of but one instance of a mulatto child beiiie; 
born amongst ihem for the last fifteen years ; and I 
venture the assertion, had this same colony been 
settled in a slave State, the cases of a like kind would 
have been far more numerous. I repeat again, in 
the words of Dr. Clianniiig, it is a slave country that 
reeks with liceiiliousuess of this kind, and f"r proof 
I refer t(i tin- opiiiKuis of .Judge Harper, of North 
Carolina, in his defence of southern slavery. 

The senator, as if tearing that he had made his 
charge too hnjud, and might fail in proof to sustain 
it, seems to stop short, and make the inquiry, where 
is the process of amalgamation to begin ; he had 
heard of no instance of the kind against 'aholitinn- 
ists ; they (the aholitionists,) would begin it with 
the laboring class; and if I understand the senator 
correctly, that abolitionism, liy throwing together 
the white and the black laborers, would naturally 
produce this result. Sir, I regret, I deplore, that 
such a charge should be made against the laboring 
class — that class which tills the ground and in obedi- 
ence to the decree of their Maker, eat their bread 
in the sweat of their face — that class as Mr. Jeft'er- 
son says, if God had chosen people on earth, they 
are those who thus labor. This charge is calculated 
for eftect, to induce the laboring class to believe that 
if emancipation takes place they will be in the free 
States, reduced to the same condition as the colored 
laborer. The reverse of that is the truth of the case. 
It is the slaveholder now, he who looks upon labor 
as only tit for servile race, it is him and his kindred 
who live upon the labor of others, endeavoring to 
reduce the white laborer to the condition of the slave. 
They do not yet claim him as property, but they 
would exclude him from all participation in the pub- 
lic affairs of the country. It is further said, that if 
the negroes were free, the black would rival the 
white laborer iu the free States. 1 can not believe 
it, while so many (acts exist to prove the contrary. 
Negroes, like the white race, but with stronger leel- 
ings, are attached to the place of their biith, and 
the home of their youth; and the climate of the 
South is congenial to their naiures, more than that 
of the North. If emancipation should take place 
at the South, and the negro be freed from the fear 
of being made merchandize, they would remove 
from the free States of the north and west, immedi- 
ately return to that country, because it is the home 
of their friends and fathers. Already in Ohio, as far 
as my knowledge extends, has free white labor, 
(emigrants,) from foreign countries, engrossed al- 
most entirely all situations in which male or female 
labor is found. But, sir, this plea of necessity and 
convenience is the plea of tyrants. Has not the 
free black person the same rigut to the use of his 
hands as the white |lersoii ; the same right to con- 
tract and labor for what price he pleases ? Would 
the gentleman extend the power of the government, 
to the regulation of the productive industry of the 
country ? This was his former theory, but put down 
effectually by the public voice. Taking advantage 
of the prejudice against labor, the attempt is now 
being made to begin this same system, by first op- 
erating on the poor black laborer. For shame ! let 
us cease from attempts of this kind. 

STERILITY OF THE SOUTH. 

The senator informs us that the question was 
asked fifty years ago tfiat is now asked, Can the 
?iegro be continued forever in bondage ? Yes; and 



it will continue to be asked, in still louder and louc 
er tones. But, says thu senator, wo are yet a proi 
perous and hafjjjy nation. Pray, sir, in what pai 
of your country do you find tliis prosperity and hnj 
piness ? In the slave States 1 No ! no ! Thei 
all is weakness, gloom, and despair, while in th 
free Stales all is light, business, and activity. - 
What has created the astonishing difTerence betwee 
the gentleman's State and mine — between Kentuck 
and Ohio? Slavery, the withering curse of slaver 
is upon Kentucky, while Ohio is free. Kentucky 
the garden of the West, almost the land of promist 
possessing all the natural advantages, and moi 
than is possessed by Ohio, is vastly behind in popi 
lation and wealth. Sir, I can see from the wii 
dows of my upper chamber, in the city of Cincinnat: 
lands in Kentucky, which I am told, can be purchase 
for from ten to fifty dollars per acre; while lands < 
the same quality, under iho same improvements 
and the same distance from Ohio, would probabl 
sell for from one to five hundred dollars per acrt 
I was told by a friend, a few days before T lei 
home, who had formerly resided in the county i 
Bourdon, Kentucky — a most excellent county t 
lands adjoining, I believe, the county in which th 
senator resides — that the white po[)ulation of the 
county was more than four hundred less than it wa 
five years since. Will the senator contend, after 
knowledge of these facts, that slavery in thiscountr 
has been the cause of our prosperity and happiness 
No, he can not. It is because slavery has been e> 
eluded and driven from a large proportion of ou 
country, that we are a prosperous and happy people 
But its late attempts to force its influence and pow 
er into the free States, and deprive our citizens c 
their unquestionable rights, has been the movinj 
cause of all the riots, burning, and murders tha 
have taken place on account of abolitionism ; and i 
has, in some degree, even in the free States, causei 
mourning, lamentation, and wo. Remove slavery 
and the country, the whole country, will recover it 
natural vigor, and our peace and future prosperit; 
will be placed on a more extensive, safe, and suri 
foundation. It is a waste of time to answer thi 
allegations that the emancipation of the negro raci 
would induce them to make war on the white race 
Every fact in the history of emancipation proves th 
reverse ; and he that will not believe those facts 
has darkened his own understandnig, that the ligh 
of reason can make no impression: he appeals ti 
interest, not to truth,for inlormalion on this subject 
We do not fear his errors, while we are left free ti 
combat them. The senator implores us to cease ai 
commotion on this subject. Are we to surrende 
all our rights and privileges, all the official station 
of the country, into the hands of the slaveholdinj 
power, without a single struggle? Are we to ceus( 
all exertions tor our own safety, and submit in quie 
to the rule of this power? Is the claim of despot 
ism to reign over this land, and the voices of freemer 
to be no more heard ? This sacrifice is required o 
us, in order to sustain slavery. Freemen, will yoi 
make it ? Will you shut your ears and your sym 
pathies, and withhold from the poor famished slave 
a morsel of bread ? Can you thus act, and expeci 
the blessings of Heaven upon your country ? I be^ 
seech you to consider for yourselves. 

CONCLUSION. 

Mr. President, I have been compelled to entei 



16 



I to this discussion from the course pursued by the 
ehate on the resolution I submiiti'd a few days 
nee. The cry of abolitionist has been raised 
lainst me. If these resolutions are abolitionism, 
len am I an abolitionist from the sole of my foot 
1 the crown of my head. If to maintain the rights 
; the State, the security of the citizens from vio- 
nce and outrage, if to preserve the suprpmiicy of 
le laws, if insisting on the I'ight of petition, as a 
edium through which every person subject to the 
ws has an undoubted light to approach the con- 
itutional authorities of the country, be the doctrines 
' abolitionists, it finds a response in every beating 
jlse in my veins. Neither power, nor favor, nor 
ant. nor misery, shall deter me from its support 
hile the vital current continues to flow. 

Condemned at home for my opposition to slavery 
^ly and single handed here, well may I fee)»tre- 
lor and emotion in bearding this lion of slavery in 
is very den and upon his own ground. I should 
irink, sir, at once from this fearful and unequal 
)ntest, was I not thoroughly convinced that I am 
istained by the power of truth and the best inter- 
;ts of the country. I listened to the senator from 
entucky with undivided attention. I was disap- 
)inted, — sadly disappointed ; I had h^ard of the 
nafor's tact in making compromises and agree- 
ents on this floor, and though opposed in principle 

all such proceedings, yet I hoped to hear some- 
ing upon which we could hang a hope that peace 
nuld be restored to the borders of our own State, 
id all future ajjgression upon our citizens from the 
ive Stales be prevented. Now, sir, he otters us 
>thing but unconditional submission or political 
'ath : and not political alone, but absolute death, 
'e have counted the cost in this matter, and are 
itermined to live and die free. Let the slaveholder 
ig his sv-tein to his bosom in his own State, we 

ven, sir, here in this District, this len miles square 
common property and common right, the sinve 
iwer hrts the assurance to come into this very hall, 
id request that we — -ves, Mr. President, that my 
nstituents — be denied the right of petition on the 
bject of slavery in this District. This most extra- 
dinory petition against the right of others to peli- 
)n on the same subject as theii'S, is graciously re- 
ived and ordered to be printed ; paeans sung to it 
the slave power, while the petitions I offer, from 
honorable, free, high minded and patriotic Amer- 
\n citizens as any in this District, are spit upon, 
id turned out of doors as an unclean thing. — 
snius of liberty ! how long will you sleep uuder this 
)n power of o])pression ? Not content with ruling 
er their own slaves, they claim the power to in- 
duct Cong-ress on the question of receiving peli- 
)ns ; and yet we are tauntingly and sneeringly told 
at we have nothing to do with the existence of 
ivery in the country; a suggestion as absurd as it 
ridiculous. We are called upon to make laws in 
/or of slavery in the District, but it is denied that 
? can make la%vs against it; and at last the riglit 
petition on the subject, by the people of the free 
ates, iscompleined of as an improper interference, 
leave it t* the Senator to reconcile all these diffi- 
Ities, aBsurdities, claims and requests of the peo- 
E> of this District, to the country at large; and I 
nture the opinion that he will find as much difii- 
ity in producing the belief that he is correct now, 



that he has found in obtaining the same belief that 
he was before correct in his views and political 
course on the subject of banks, internal improve- 
ments, protective tariffs, &c., and the regulation by 
acts of Congress, of the productive industry of the 
country, together with all the compromises and coa- 
litions he ha* entered into for the attainment of those 
obiects. I rejoice, however, that the Senator has 
made the display he has on this occasion. It is a 
powerful shake to awaken the sleeping energies ,of 
liberty, and his vo'ce, like a trumpet, will call from 
their slumbers millions of freemen to defend their 
rights; and the overthrow of his theory now, is as 
sure and certain, by the force of public opinion, as 
was the overthrow of all his former grand schemes, 
by the same mighty power. 

I feel, Mr. President, as if I had wearied your 
patience, while I am sure my own bodily powers ad- 
monish me to close; but I can not do so without again 
reminding my constituents of the greetings that have 
taken place on the consummation and ratification of 
the treaty, offe-nsive and defensive, between the slave- 
holding and bank powers in order to carry on war 
against the liberties of our country and to put down 
the present administiatien. Yes, there is no voice 
heard from New England now. Boston and Faneuil 
Hall are silent as death. The free day-laborer is. in 
prosjject, reduced to the political, if not the moral con- 
dition of the slave; an ideal line is to divide them in 
their labor; yes, the same principle is to govern on 
both sides. Even the farmer, too, will soon be brought 
into the same fold. It will be again said, with regard 
to the government of the country, "The farmer with 
his huge paws upon ihestaiutebook.wTiat can hedo''" 
I have endeavored to warn my fellow citizens of the 
present and approaching danger, but the dark cloud 
of slavery is before their eyes, and prevents many 
of them Irom seeing the condition of things as they 
aj'e. That cloud, like the cloud of summer, will 
soon pass away, and its thunders cease to be heard. 
Slavery will come to an end, and the sunshine of 
prosperity warm, invigorate, and bless our whole 
country. 

1 do not know, Mr. President, that ray voice will ever 
again be iieard on this floor. I now willinsly.yes, gladly, 
return to my coiistitueiils, to the people of my own State. 
I have spent my life amoust them, and the greater por- 
tion of it ill their service, and they have bestowed upon 
me their confidence in numerous instances. I feel per- 
fectly conscious thai, in the discharge of every tru.st which 
they have coininilted to me, 1 have, to the best of my abil- 
ities, acted solely with a view to tlie general good, not suf- 
fering myself to be influenced by any particular or private 
interest whatever: and I now challenge those who think 1 
iiave done otherwise, to lay their linger on any piihiic act 
of mine, and prove tn the country its injustice or uiiti-re- 
publicau tendency. That I have often erred in the selec- 
tion of means to accomplish important ends I have no 
douht, but my belief in the twth.of tiie doc trine of the 
declaration of independence, the political creed of Presi- 
dent Jcireison remains unshaken and unsubdued. My 
;rreatest regret is that I have not been more zealous and 
done more for the cause of individual and political liberty 
than 1 have don". 1 hope, on returning to my home and 
my friends, to join tliein again in rekindling the beacon 
fires of lilicriy upon every hill in our State, until their 
broad glare shall enlighten every valley, and the song of 
triumph will soon be heard, for the hearts of our people 
are in the liaiids of a just and holy Being, (who can not 
look upon oppression but with abhorrence,) and he can 
turn them whithersoever he will, as the rivers of waters 
are turned. Thougfi our national sins are many and 
grievous, yet repentance, like that of ancient Nineveh, 
may divert from us that impending danger which seems 
to hang over our heads as by a single hair. That all may 
be safe, I conclude that the negro will yet be set /rcc. 



V,, .. u . ^'^ 
17 



^1 



snmp in rear of the tents, so that when tite batteries of the enemy were coinpleted and mounted, 
and his fira opened, tlis tents of the Americans being struck and removed to the rear of tha 
traverse, were completely sheltered and protected. A severe lire was now kept up on both sides 
until tlie 4th of May, when intelligence reached the camp of the approach of the expected rein- 
forceminls, composed of a bri^^ade of Kentucky militia under General Grem Clay. 

General Harrison immediately determined to make a bold effort, by a sortie from the camp, 
comlniied with an attack of the enemy's lines by Genertil Clay, to raise the siege. Orders 
accordingly were despatched to General Cl:iy, requiring him that, instead of forming an imme- 
diate junction with the garrison, he should detach eight hundred of his men on the opposite sida 
of the river, where two of the British batteries were, turn and take the batteries, spike tha can- 
non, and destroy the gun-carriages, and then regain the boats as speedil;,' as possible, whila 
the remainder of the brigade should land and fight their way into tlie camp, so as to favor a 
sortie to be made by the garrison against the third and only remaining Bruisli battery. This 

Elan was ably conceived, and promised the best results. General Clay, after detaching Colonel 
►udley to land on the west side of the Miami, fought his way safely into the camp. A part of tha 
garrison also, under Colonel (now General) Miller, consisting in part of regular troops and the 
residue militia and Kentucky volunteers, gallantly assaulted and carried the battery on the east- 
ern bank, made a number of prisoners, and drove the British and Indians from their lines. 

Meanwhile, Dudley had landed his men, and charged and carried the two batteries without 
the loss of a man. Unhappily these gallant citizens were not sufficiently aware of their exposed 
situation, and of the necessity of retreating to their boats, in punctual observance of their orders, 
60 soon as they should have destroyed the enemy's artillery. Instead of this, they were, with- 
out due consideration, drawn into a fight with some straggling Indians, and so detained until 
Proctor had time to ItUerpose a strong force between them and the means of retreat. The result 
was the destruction rallier than defeat of the detachment, for three-fourths of it were made cap- 
tives or slain. The British arms were again dislionored by giving up the prisoners to be mas- 
sacred by the Indians. Dudley and many of his companions were tomahawked at once. 
Others of the prisoners were put into Port Miami, for the Indians to stand on the ramparts and 
fire into the disarmed crowd. Those Indians, who chose, selected their victims, led them to tht 
gateway, and there, under the ei/e of General Proctor and in the presence of the whole British 
army, murdered and scalped thevi. Not until Tecumthe came up from the batteries did tha 
slaughter cease. " For shame ! it is a disgrace to kill defenceless prisoners !" — lie exclaimed, thus 
displaying more of humanity and civilization than Proctor himself. 

Unfortunate as this incident was, the events of the day satisfied Proctor that he could not 
continue the siege with any hope of success. He resolved to retreat, to cover which, he sent in 
a flag of truce, requiring the immediate surrender of the American post and army, as "the only 
means left forijaving the latter from the tomahawks and scalping knives of the savages." Con- 
sidering this base and insolent message unworthy of any serious notice, General Harrison simply 
admonished Proctor not to repeat it. With which manly and decided answer Proctor being 
perforce content, hastily broke up his camp, and retreated in disgrace and confusion towards 
Maiden. 

In May following, however, Proctor, thinking to surprise Fort Meigs, made a second attack 
upon it, with a large force of British regulars and Canadians, and several thousand Indians 
under Tecumthe, but was again obliged to I'etreat in disgrace. After which. Proctor landed a 
part of his force at Lower Sandusky, with a view to reduce Fort Stephenson. This was a 
mere out-post of little importance; and General Harrison, acting with the unanimous advice of 
his council of war, had sent orders to Major Croghan, who commanded the garrison, to evacuate 
the fort, and make good his retreat to head-quarters, provided the enemy should approach the 
place with artillery, and a retreat be practicable. But the first step taken by Proctor was to 
isolate the fort by a cordon of Indians, thus leaving to Major Croghan no clioice but between 
resistance and submission. He then demanded of Croghan to surrender, adding his customary 
declaration, that otherwise he could not protect the garrison from massacre by the Indians in 
case the fort should be taken. To this atrocious threat, as unjustifiable by any of the usages of 
war as it was cowardly and discourteous, Croghan calmly replied, that " when the fort should 
be taken there would be none left to massacre, as it would not be given up while a man was able to 
fight." With his small garrison this brave young officer gallantly maintained the post, and 
repulsed the assaults of Proctor. Much idle censure has .been cast upon General Harrison 
because of this aflfair. To which it is sufficient here to say that, while his orders were such as 
the circumstances justified and required, and were fully approved and sanctioned by the most 
competent judges on the spot, Croghan himself bearing witness to the penetration and able 
generalship of liis measures, so the defence itself, so s^lccessfully made in compliance with tha 
very contingency contemplated in the orders, was in the highest degree honorable to the brave 
garrison and its young commander. 

BATTLE OF THE THAME.S. 

The time was now at hand when General Harrison and his army were to reach the full com- 
fletion of all tha contemplated objects of the expedition, 

2 



18 

Among the earliest reeommendations of General Harrison to the Government the year betore, 
and immediately after he commenced operations, had been that of constructing and equipping a 
navnl armament on the Lakes. In one letter he says: "Admitting that Maiden and Detroit are 
both taken, Mackinaw and St. Joseph will both remain in the hands of the enemy until we can 
create a force capable of contending with the vessels which the British have in Lake Michigan, 
&;c." And again, in another letter: " Should an offensive operation be suspended until sprmg, 
it is my decided opinion that the cheapest and most effectual plan will be to obtain command of 
Lake Erie. This being once effected, every difficulty will be removed. An army of four 
thousand men, landed on the north side of the Lake, below Maiden, will reduce that place, retake 
Detroit, and with the aid of the fleet, proceed down the Lake to co-operate with the army from 
Niagara." These sagacious suggestions being i-epeatedly and strenuously urged by him, and 
reinforced also from other quarters, were adopted and acted upon by the Government. Com- 
modore Perry was commissioned to build, equip, and command the contemplated fleet; and, on 
the 10th of September, with an inferior force, he met the enemy, and gained the brilliant victory 
of Lake Erie. 

Meanwhile, Colonel Richard M. Johnson, then a Member of Congress from Kentucky, had 
devised the organization of two roginients of mounted militia, which he was authorized by the 
Government to i-aise, as well for service against the Indians as to co-operate with Harnson. 
Colonel Johnson crossed the country to Lower Sandusky, where he received orders from the 
War Department to proceed to Kaskaskia to operate in tiiat quarter; but, by the interference of 
Harrison, and at the urgent request of ColonelJohnson, — who said for himself and his men that 
the first object of their hearts was to accompany Harrison to Detriot and Canada, and to 
partake in tlie danger and honor of that expedition, under an ofucer in whom they had confi- 
dence, and who had approved himself "to be wise, prudent, and brave," — the orders of the De- 
partment were countermanded, and Colonel Johnson attained his wish. 

General Harrison now prepared to strike the great blow. Aided by the energetic efTorts of 
Governor Meigs, of Ohio, and Governor Shelby, of Kentucky, he had ready on the southern shore 
of Lake Erie, by the middle of September, a competent force destined for theimmediate invasion of 
Canada. Between the 16th and the 24th of September the artillery, military stores, provisions, 
and troops, were gradually embarked, and on the 27th the whole army proceeded to the Canada 
shore. "Ilemember the river Raisin," said General Harrison, in his address to the troops, 
" but remember it only whilst victory is suspended. The revenge of a soldier cannot be grati- 
fied on a fallen enemy." The army landed in high spirits: but the enemy had abandoned his 
sti'ong hold, and retreated to Sandwich, — afcer dismantling Maiden, burning the barracks and 
navy yard, and stripping the adjacent country of horses and cattle. General Harrison encamped 
that night on the ruins of Maiden. 

No tune was lost in resuming the pursuit of Proctor. Colonel Johnson's mounted regiment 
came up and supplied the cavalry wanting for the pursuit. Two days only were occupied in 
re-establishing the civil government of Michigan, and assigning to it a defensive corps, in orga* 
nizing a portion of the army for rapid movement, and in giving to the whole of it an order of 
march and battle. It was not until the 5th of October that Proctor was overtaken, at a place ever 
memorable as the battle ground of one of the most honorable and decisive actions fought during 
the war. On that day the enemy was discovered in a position skilfully chosen, in relation as 
well to local circumstances as to the character of his troops. A narrow strip of dry land, flanked 
by the river Thames on the left and by a swamp on the right, was occupied by his regular infantry 
and artillery, while on the right flank lay Tecumthe and his followers, on the eastern margin of 
the swamp. But, notwithstanding the judicious choice of the ground. Proctor had committed the 
error of forming his infantry in open order. Availing himself of this fact, anel aware that 
troops so disposed could not resist a charge of mounted men, he directed Colonel Johnson to dash 
through the enemy's line in column. The movement was made with brilliant success. The 
mounted men charged with promptitude and vigor, broke through the line of the enemy, formed 
in the rear, and assailed the broken line with a success seldom equalled, for nearly the whole of 
the British regular force were eitherkilled, wounded, or taken. On the left, the Indians rushed on 
the mounted men there, and fiercely contested the ground tor a short time, until 'I'ecumthe fell, 
when his men gave way to the Americans. Proctor, who had saved himself and a part of his 
suite by a base desertion of his troops, in keeping with his character, was now strenuously but 
unsuccessfully pursued. But the defeat of the enemy was now complete. All his baggage and 
military stores, together with his official papers, fell into Harrison's hands, fceveral field 
pieces also, which had been taken from the British in the revolutionary war at Saratoga and 
Yorktown, but which Hull had shamefully surrendered at Detroit, were again captured, and 
were honorable trophies of victory. 

In this battle Governor Shelby, of Kentucky, commanded the troops of his State, and Colonel 
(General) Cass and Commodore Perry acted as volunteer aids to_General Harrison. 

" Thus fortunately terminated an expedition," says General Armstrong, " the results of which 
were of high importance to the United States: a naval ascendency gained on Lakes Erie and 
Superior; Maiden destroyed ; Detroit recovered; Proctor defeated ; the alliance between Great 
Britain and the savages dissolved, and peace and industry restored to our widely extended 
Western frontier." In a word, Harrison had gloriously accomplished, by his own abilities 
and the co-operation of the gallant people of the West, all that he undertook in assuming the 
command of the American forces in the Northwest. 



19 

The news of this great victory was received throusjhout the United Slates with univeraal 

rejoicings and gratulations. in his Message to Congress of the 7ih December, 1813, Mr, 
Madison spoke of the result as " signally honorable to Major General Harrison, by whose 
mihiary talents it was prepared." " 'i'hc victory of Harrison," said Mr. Clievcs on the floor 
of Congress, " was such as would have secured to a Koinan general, in the best days of the 
republic, the honors of a triumph." He put an end to the war in the uppermost Canada." " Tiie 
blessings," said Governor tinyder, of Pennsylvania, in his message to the Legislyture of thai 
State, "of thousands of women and children, rescued from the iscalping-knife of the ruthlesi 
savage of the wilderness, and from the still moi-e savage Proctor, vest on Harrison and liis gal- 
lant army." It was well said by a prominent Virginia press, of Harrison's despatch after the 
battle, that in his letter he had done justice to every one but himself; and that the world must 
therefore do justice to the man, who was too modest to be just to himself. And without referring 
to other colemporaneous testimonies of public gratitude and respect, it will be suiticient to add 
the following resolution, passed by both branches of Congress, and approved 4th of April, 1818: 

"ivfA-y/yc(Z by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United Stales of America in Con-' 
gress assembled, That the thanks of Congress be, and they arc hereby presented to Major General 
WiUiain Henry Harrison and Isaac Shelby, late Governor of Kentucky, and through ttiem to llie 
officers and men under their conunaiid, for their gallantry and good conduct in deleating the com- 
bined British and Indian lorces under Major General Proctor on the Thames, in Upper Canada, 
on the 5th day of October, 1813, capturing the British army, with their baggage, camp equipage, 
and artillery ; and that the President ot the United Stales be requested to cause two Gold Medals 
to bo struck, embleniaiical of this triumph, and presented to General Harrison, and Isaac tShelby, 
late Governor of Kentucky." 

Having thus entirely defeated the enemy in Upper Canada, Plarrlson advanced with a part of 
his army to the Niagara frontier, and thence to yackctt's Harbor, where he left the troops and 
proceeded to the seat of Government, and then to Ohio, where his immediate duties required 
his presence. In the plan of the ensuing campaign General Armstrong, the Secretary of 
War, saw fit to assign to General Harrison the command of a no w comparatively unimportant dis- 
trict, while active service against Canada was entrusted to others. That an officer in the prime 
of life, bred to combat under Wayne, who had signalized his name in the memorable triumph 
of Tippecanoe, won the brilliant victory of the Thames, and by his courage and skill given 
peace to the Northwest, reconquered Michigan, and gained possession of a large part of Upper 
Canada,^that such an officer should not be continued in active service naturally occasioned sur- 

Erise. But though the causes of it were veiled from the public eye, yet the agency and motives 
ecame visible, when the Secretary of War, soon afterwards, not only designated a subordinate 
officer within General Plarrison's district for a particular duty, but also transmitted directly to 
that officer orders to take troops from the district without consulting its commander. On 
receiving notice of this, General Harrison, justly indignant, addressed to the Department a 
letter of resignation, with a notihcation to the President. Hearing of this, Governor Shelby 
wrote a remonstrance to the President, expressing the highest opinion of Harrison's military 
talents and capacity to command, derived from actually serving under him, and declaring the 
belief that in the arduous duties he performed no officer had ever displayed more energy or exhibited 
greater capability. But the Secretary of War hastily assumed the right, Mr. Madison being 
absent in Virginia, to accept General Harrison's resignation, without which, it is believed, the 
President would have decided otherwise; and thus, in the subsequent campaigns, the country was 
deprived of the abilities of him " who," in the words of Colonel Johnson, " during the late war 
was longer in active service than any other general officer, was perhaps oftener in action than 
any of them, and never sustained a defeat." For General Harrison, with the disiterestednesa 
and love of honor which has always distinguished him, would not continue to enjoy the high 
rank he held in the army, and the emoluments it conferred, without he could be rendering at tha 
same time an equivalent service to the P>,epublic. 

INDIAN COMMISSIONER. 

But General Harrison did not the less continue to receive new marks of the confidence ol 
Mr. Madison. 

In the summer of 1814, he was appointed, in conjunction with Governor Shelby and Gene- 
ral Cass, to treat with the Indians in the Northwest, at Greenville, the old head quarters ol 
General Wayne. 

In 1815, after tha peace of Ghent, and in the execution of the provisions therein for the pa- 
cification ol the Indians, General Harrison was placed at the head of the commission for 
treating with the important tribes of the Wyandolts, Shawaneet, Ottawas, Winnebagoes 
Chippewas, Delawares, Senecas, Potawaiimas, and Miamis, at Spring Wells. 

MEMBER OF CONGRESS AND OF THE OHIO LEGISLATURE. 

Hitherto, we have followed General Harrison through a long series of public duties and 
services, both civil and military, for a period of twenty-five years of active life ; in fifteen of 
which we have seen him employed in the highest and most arduous public trusts, whether u 



20 

the poUlical head or the military commander, in the great region ot the West, which has 
been the sceneof his toils and his triumphs. Pre-erninentas he was in the field when hiscounlry 
called him there, yet in the character of a civil ruler, as a negotiator, as a chief magistrate, — 
which for the greater part of the time he was, — he had shown himselfequaily preeminent. For 
a short period only ol his early life he had appeared befoie the nation as a member of a legisla- 
tive body ; but then with distinguished capaci;y for public useUilness. In I^IG, he became 
again a 'member of Congress, being elected a Representative trom the St te ot Ohio, and con- 
inuing for three years, alter which he became a member of the Senate of that State ; 
and in 182-1, he vias elected a Senator in Congress Irom that State. General Har- 
rison was amply qualified for the legislative duties he was thus Culled to perlorm, not 
merely by the possession of a high order of intellect, a cultivated mind, long and intimate fa- 
miliarity with afiairs, and great political and general acquirements,but also as an animated and 
ready speaker, fluent m language, plain, but not ungraceful in manner, eminently happy in 
extemporaneous address, and endowed with apt and ready skill in bringing the resources of his 
mind to bear upon any given subject; — all which traits characterised his cursory debates as 
well as more formal speeches in Congress. 

It would far exceed the necessary limits of these Outlines, to enter minutely into the review 
ol General Harrison's acts and opinions during the period of this his service in Congress. 
These alone, with the otficial papers which proceeded from his pen, v^hilst at the head of af- 
fairs in the Northwest, would constitute a volume. 

Of the subjects, however, which received particular attention from him, some deserve to be 
mentioned, for their intrinsic importance, and the value of his efforts in regard to them. Such 
are the organization of the militia; the introduction ol a more equal system ot military educa- 
tion than now exists; the recognition of the independence of the Spanish American repub- 
lics; the improvement of the moral condition of the army by augmenting the inducements to 
respectability on the part of the non-commissioned ofircers and soldiers; the introduction of 
nniformitv as to military pensions; and above all, his strenuous exertions in behalf of the 
claim.i ol'the surviving officers and soldiers of the Revolution. 

MINISTER TO COLLMBIA. 

In 1828, General Harrison was appointed, by Mr. Adams, Minister Plenipotentiary to the 
Republic of Columbia. He arrived in the midst of that unhappy period, when Bolivar, for- 
getful of that example of Washington, which it had been his pride in early life to follow, was 
engaged in those efforts to change the constitution of his country, the failure of which, and 
the chagrin they brought upon him, consigned him to a premature grave, the broken-hearted 
victim of bitter disappointment and unavailing regrets. An elaborate letter of General Har- 
rison's to Bolivar, in reference to these maUers, is justly admired lor the noble and just senti- 
ments of republican liberty and of pure patriotism, which it is replete w4th. General Plarri- 
son did not remain long in Columbia, however; the change of administration which ensued 
in the United States, producing his recall. 

CONCLUSION. 

Such, without enlarging to refer to other trusts of less general importance at different periods 
confided to General Harrison, have been the great public employments, which, in the course of 
his diversified and eventful life, he has been called to fill, with honor to himself and to the 
Union. 

The traits of character, which distinguished him in those employments, have been described 
briefly, as they came successively in review. Some of these traits, of a personal nature, de- 
serve" to be more distinctly spoken of by themselves. 

Disinterestedness and integrity in pecuniar}" matters have marked all his actioRS. 

As Governor of Indiana and as Superintendent of Indian Aiiairs, large sums of money 
passed through his hands to be disbursed at his discretion, and with few of the checks now pro- 
vided in reference to such things. He gave no security, and the Government had no guaranty 
for the faithful application of the funds entrusted to him, but his prudence and honesty. But 
he was conscientiously true to his dut)' ; neither accumulating wealth by speculation upon the 
public money or lands, nor becoming a debtor of the Government. 

During the war, as commander-in-chief in the Northwest, he had liberty to draw on the 
Government to an unlimited amount, and was daily passing large sums of public money through 
his hands, but not a cent did he ever divert to his own use ; and at the close of his military 
services, there v.'as no charge against him on the books of the Treasury, except for moneys 
faithfully and truly accounted for by him, and allowed as such. 

Meanwhile, his situation in life, more especially when Commander-in-chief, subjected him to 
many and great personal charges ; not only those directly incidental to his military duties, in 
travelling and otherwise ; but, charges, also, of a difl"erent kihd, imposed by the peculiar de- 
scription of the forces he led, and the consequent necessity he was under al times, of keeping 
free quarters for the reception of his fellow-citizens, whom his duty to the Government, and the 
depeiidance of the country upon volunteer troops, made it important he should conciliate. Add 



21 

to which, that at his own expense, he continually supplied clothing and other needful comforts 
for his side and wounded soldiers. Hence, though he lived as frugally and fared as hardly 
in the field as any soldier in the ranks of his army, yet his expenses at that period exceeded his 
pay, and the balance came from his private property. 

Since tlie war. General Harrison has been the principal representative of the military class of 
our citizens in the region in which he lived ; and the old soldier, the veteran, who had servi 
under Wayne, St. Clair, and others, and still more, they who had served under himscli", came to 
him to present their claims for lands and pensions, and regarded him in the light of a protector 
and a friend. Hospitable by nature and habit, the old soldier always found a welcome at 
fireside. Not only were his expenses increased, but much of his time also employed, in the 
duties of charity or friendship, to these his brave companions in arms. 

Nor did he at anytime seek to avail himself of those means, which came in his way, to add 
to the regular appointments of the stations he held. While (Governor of Indiana and Indi 
Superintendant, he refused to accept any of the perquisites, which before his time had be 
customarily paid; and for his services as commander of the expedition to Tippecanoe he never 
received or asked compensation. 

Though having a numerous family, — and with official patronage long at his command, — and 
high claims in his own right and otherwise, to such favors — he has educated his children at his 
own expense, and waived opportunities of providing for them in the public service, that he 
miglit give his inliuence to others. 

Thus disinterested in his public relations, (and not less so, in(fted, in his private,) he has 
carried with him into retirement no spoils of office; continuing to possess only the competency 
which belongs to independence, and that riciiest of all possessions, the enviable reputation of an 
upright life. 

Whether in civil office or military command, General Harrison was always just, moderate 
and conciliatory, though firm; and whether in public or private life, generous and considerate 
in his disposition, cheerful and art'able in his intercourse with all; and though warm in his 
afi'ections, yet never violent nor vindictive in liis enmities. By this rare union of ability, cour- 
tesy, and moderation, it was that he swayed those about him. He himself, on being asked how 
he could control the militia he led to victory, disclosed the secret of his intluence. "Ey treat- 
ing tliem" he said "with alFection and kindness, b}- always recollecting that they were my 
fellow-citizens, whose feelings I was bound to respect, and by sharings on every «ccasion the 
hardships they were obliged to undergo." 

His published writings, which are numerous, are distinguishea by clearness and facility of 
composition, and indicate beyond dispute, that he possesses great cultivation of mind, as well 
as great natural intellect. 

It is not the purpose of these Outlines to speak with particularity of the political opinions of 
General Harrison. These are best learnt by inspection of his writings, his speeches, his official 
or public correspondence, and by observation of his life and actions. One fact, however, in 
this relation, it is material to bear in mind. Though honored with the confidence as well of 
the Washington and Adams as of the Jefferson and Madison administrations, and though heartily 
attached to the Republican principles of the latter, and one of the electors of Mr. Monroe, 
yet his public services have been rendered to his country rather than to a party, and he stands 
free and untrammelled, with claims to the confidence of his fellow- citizens founded not on 
narrow party or sectional peculiarities, but on the broad basis of tiled patriotism and capacity, 
unblemished integrity, and his unquestionable devotion to the great public interests of the 
whole Union. And it needs only to add, therefore, that since his return from Columbia, he 
has lived in comparative retirement, upon his farm at North Bend, on the Ohio, a short way 
below Cincinnati, in the enjoyment of the unimpaired vigor of body and mind, which his ac- 
tive and temperate habits of life have secured to him, and in the conscientious discharge of aE 
the relative duties of the just man and the sincere Christian. 

THE END. 



CANAL POLICY 



STATE OF NE W-Y O R K 



The question is now before the people of this State, whether the unfinished canals 
upon which an immense amount of the public treasure has been expended, shall be 
completed, and rendered useful, or remain in their present condition, rapidly dete- 
vionUiiur and becoming utterly waste. Upon this question the two great political 
partus have defined their pos'itions. There is no diHerence of opinion concerning 
v.lu re and how they sta:.d. There is no ambiguity upon this point. The one 
proclaims loudly and upon all occasions, that it goes for the stop law policy of 1842. 
it declares that it desires this policy to be engrafted upon and incorporated into the 
constitution. It makes no concealment of its desires. Its doctrines are, that the 
State must not run in debt to finish the canals already begun and lying unfinished, 
and that the people must be taxed to pay the interest and princii)al of the moneys 
already expended. To carry out these doctrines it has prepared the following 
amendments to the constitution, which were passed by the last legislature, and will 
be found in the session laws of 1844, page 5.3S : 

AMENDMENT NO. 1. 

The pled;^rrs and L'uarantees of the aci entitled " An Act to provide for paying the debts and pre- 
serving the iioiiii of the State," passed March 29, 1843, are hereby continued, and the revenues 
spccilieil ilierom shall ho applied to the purposes therein ppecilied, inclading the repayment to the 
Unilcd States Deposite Fund and to the Cominon Shool Fundof all moneys of the said funds, which 
iKive been, or shall be, invfslcd in pursuance of the said act, in such equal annual sums as will be 
suiiifiL-nl to pay in full, both principal-and interest, all the debts and liabilities ol this State, as they 
exis'.od at the time of the passage of the said act; and also all the debts and liabilities of the State, 
autb.irized by said act to lie created and incurred, and which have been created and incurred by au- 
tiioniy of, and pursuant to ssid act, in the period of twenty-two and a half years from the lime said 
act was passed and [or.k elfect; and the Legislature shall not divert any part (if llie revenues appro- 
priated by said act reqLM'site to pay in full, both princip-il and interest, all the debts and lialdlities of 
the State hereioberorc specified, within the fixed period of time, and in the equal annual suirs here- 
in before expressed, fiom the purposes to which they are herein before directed to be applied. 

AMENDMENT NO. 2. 
The Legislature shall not, in any manner, create any debtor debts, liability or liabilities, of the 
oiiiie, direct or contingent, which shall singly, or in the agirregale, at any time, exceed one million 
< f t'uiilars, except to repel iovasion, or suppress insurieciion, unless the same shall be authorized by 
a law for some single oliject or work, to be dislincliy specified therein; and such law shall impose 
and provide for the collection of a direct annual tax sufficient to pay the inlertst of such del't or 
ii... iiiiy as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal of such debt or Iial>ility with:n 
von years from the lime of the contracting ihereLd; and no such law shall taU'e elTect nniil it 
at a general election, have been submitted to the people, and have received the sanction of a 
, , lity of all I lie \ ,V(s crist for and a<jrainsi it at such election. And on the final passage of every 
sucli bill, in ' (if the Legislnture, the question shall be tr.lcen by ayes and nays duly 

entered on t ;; nd shall be — "Shall this bill pass, and ought the same t«) receive the 

sanciiiiii (il'i: , And the assent of a majority of the members elected to each Hnusc of 

the I,i';iisliiure >!iall hi; requisite to the passage of such bill, and such law shall be irrcpealable until 
such debt or lia'iililv and the interest thereon arc fully paid and discharired. And ibe njomys arising 
from any loans or stocks creating such debtor liability shall be applied to the nbjcct or w,.vlc speci- 
fied in the act authorizing such deb. or liability, and to no other purpose whatever. Where a debt 
or liability on the part of tlie State shall be created lo repel invasion, or suppress insurrerlii-n, the 
moneys arising from the loans or stockscrealingsuch debt or liability shall be applied to the purpose 
for which the same were raised, or for the repayment of such debt, or liability and to no other 
purpose whatever. 



Tho other party advocates the completioti of the unfinished works in an 
economical manner, at the earliest practicable day, in order that the State may 
enjoy the benefits arisiTng from the immense expenditures already made upon them, 
which, up to this time, produce no return. It believes that it is irood policy for the 
State to borrow means to complete them if they promise to afford sulhcient reve- 
nue to defray the annual interest of the loan and uliiniately to discliarge the princi- 
pal, and it believes the present tax imposed by the stop hnv of 1843, is not neces- 
sary either to sustain the credit of the State, or to aid in the discharge of the canal 
debt. These two different systems of policy are hekl up before the people for their 
approbation by the two great parties, and as the question is to be decided at the 
approaching election, which is tlie true policy of the State, the attention of each 
voter is invited to a brief history of the canals. In preparing it, reference has beei? 
had to documents which can be examined to test its accuracy. It will be borne in 
mind that a complete set of these documents can be found at each county clerk's 
office in the State, and the most careful comparison of the facts here stated, witli 
these documents, is invited. 

In the first place then, it will be remembered that the Erie andChamplain canals 
were commenced by the State in 1817 and completed in 1825, at an expenditure of 
$8,401,394 12. [See Senate doc, 1844, No. 93, page 8.] At their commencement 
they encountered a powerful opposition, which was continued until botli works 
were nearly completed, when, unable to prevent the completion of the canals, it 
concentrated its malignity and g?.ve it vent in directing it against De Witt Clinton, 
who had from the first identified himself with the canal policy. On the 12th day of 
April, 1824, by a joint resolution of both Houses of the Legislature, which then con- 
sisted almost entirely of the then styled democratic party, he was removed from the 
office of Canal Commissioner. [See Senate Journal, 1824.] Sixty-fonr 
democratic members of the Assenffffy and all but three of the members of the Senate, 
the whole of which was composed of democrats, voted for the removah Among 
the number were SILAS WRIGHT, the present Locofoco candidate for Gov- 
ernor, JONAS EARLL, Jr., one of the present Locofoco candidates for Canal 
Commissicner, and IIE31AN J. REDFIELD, late Chairman of the Syracuse 
Locofoco State Convention. It cannot be said of either of these three gentlemen 
that since 1824 they have done anything inconsistent with their conduct in voting 
for the removal of Mr. Clinton. 

The insult to the illustrious Clinton roused to indignation the sense of justice of 
the people, and at the next election he was called to resume the gubernatorial chair 
by an overwhelming vote over SAMUEL YOUNG, the democratic candidate. Mr. 
Young was then a Canal Commissioner, and smarting under a sense of the just re- 
tribution which had been meted out to his party, and desirous of monopolizing for 
it all the feeling which it was manifest then existed in the State in favor of internal 
improvements, in the very next annual report of the Canal Commissioners, [See 
Assembly do^'uments, 1825, and canal laws, Vol. 2, page 262,] he recommended 
the construction of a second canal, parallel to the Erie canal, at a very early day, 
and estimated the probable annual revenue of the Erie canal at over nine millions 
OF DOLLARS. The following extracts from that report will not be uninteresting, 
v/hen we compare the views tliere presented with those which Mr. Young and his 
brother Locofoco politicians now entertain of the " PAUPER CANALS'' of this 
State. 

" It is presumed tliat the exporience o[ titv or three years more will satisfy the public that it will 
be proper to commence the consiruciion of a no I her canal parallel Kitk the Eastern section. * * j 
If Ihe transportation on the Eastern section could be equalized throughout the season, and a double ? 
set of locks constructed, another canal would probably not be necessary within fifteen or twenty 
years : [that is till 1839 to 184i,] but tho vast accumulation of business on the canal in the spring 
and fall months beyond what it is in the suminerwii.r. nKNDK.ri itpropkr and PKRHAPsiNDisPENSABr.E 
TO MAKB A PARAiJ,Ei. CANAi, ON THIS SKCTioN WITHIN A VERY FEW YEARS FROiM TtllS 
TIME." 

In the same report, the following is given as an estimate of tlie tolls to be receiv- 
ed vn the Erie canal when in full operation. 



ESTIMATE OF TOLL ON THE ERIE CANAL. 
" Toll on produce on Westcrnlialf of canal $3,150,260 

" " on Easiprn hall' , 4,300'560 

Toll on merchandize on Western half 8Go'jI2 

" " on Eastern half ^ 1,720,224 

Total S9,03l,176 

" Fiom the above it will be seen that the Erie Canal may jjive a revenue in one year of ninb 

MILLIONS THIRTY-ONE THOUSAND ONE HONDRtD AND SEVENTY-SIX DOLLARS." 

This report was sijrned by f]ie honorable Samuel Young, the present Secretary 
of State, and his excellency William C, Bouck, our present Governor — gentlemen 
who maintain the doctrines of the stop law politicians of 1842. 

Under the brilliant prospects thus portrayed before them by these distinguished 
gentlemen, the Legislature, atixious to distribute the advantages of internal im- 
provements throughout the State, instead of ordering a " PARALLEL" canal to be 
constructed along the eastern section of the Erie Canal, passed laws in 1825 for 
the construction of the Oswego, Cayuga and Seneca canals : in 1829, for the con- 
struction of Crooked Lake and Chemung canals, and in 1833, for the Chenango canaL 

We have now arrived at a period when the State commenced the public works, 
which are now lying in an unfinished state, and are so railed at by the friends of the 
stop-law system of 1842. 

In 1834 the Canal Commissioners, viz: Samuel Young, William C. Bouck, 
Jonas Earll, Jr., and Michael Hoffman, at present distinguished friends of 
the stop-law, in their annual report to the Legislature, recommended the construc- 
tion of double locks on the Erie Canal east of Syracuse. The time was approach- 
ing when, according to the report of 1825, which is quoted above, the State was to 
require a double canal, and neither Mr. Young nor any of his compeers had seen 
anything to shake their former oi)inion of the vast importance of the Erie Caiial. 
In their report this language was employed : 

" The Commissioners believe the period has arrived when in this eiiliirhtened policy the Locks 
on the Erie Canal, east of Syracuse, should be doubled." — [See Assembly Doc. for 1834, No. 88.] 

This was just ten years before Mr. Young, in referring to the expenditure upon 
the canals in his report to the Legislature, staled that the people had — 

" Permitted themselves to he grievously taxed for the purpose of digging the praves of productive 
industry to support pauper can'als, and to licsiow immense gratuities upon hnckneyed fiaud, and 
countless millions upon impudent corruption," [See Asscmtily Doc. 1844 No. 34, p. 13 ] "and 
quietly worked on from year to year, and witnessed with stolid indifference the ruinous and reckless 
career of legislation." [lb.] 

niessrs. Young, Hofltnan, Earll and Bouck then believed in prosecuting the system 
of public improvements, and by all their influence aided onward " the ruinous and 
rci'kless career of legislation" which so grievously afflicts the mental vision of the 
lormer gentleman in 1844. 

During the session of the Legislature to whom this report of the Canal Commis- 
sioners was made, laws were passed directing them to cause surveys to be made oi 
the routes of the Black River and Genesee Valley Canals, and estimates to be pre- 
pared of the expenditure which would be required to construct them. The follow- 
ing suminer was spent in these surveys and at the meeting of the Legislature in 
1835, the Commissioners reported the results In their report the cost of the 
works was estimated as follows : 
For the Black River Canal and Feeder, with stone locks, including 

the improvements of the Black River, $1,068,437,20. 

For the Genesee Valley Canal and the Dansville Sidecut, Sl,8<)0,G14,12. 

It is to be borne in mind that these are the estiinates of Jonas Earll, Jr., and 
his friends, who are now pledged to the support of the stop policy of 1842, and 
open advocates of the system of permitting these canals to go to destruction, 
llovv accurately they were made, and how much confidence can be placed in the 
integrity and ability of public servants who could make such a report, we can learn 
from the subsequent history of these canals. By Senate document for 1844, No. 



98, page 19, it appears that on the Black River Canal, which was to have been 

completed for 81.068,437, there has been expended as follows: 

Black River Canal (proper), . 81,511,967,00 

On the Eire Canal Feeder, (originally in the estimate of the work proper,) 290,097,68 



Total on Black River Canal 81.802,064,66 

and yet with this enormous expenditure of s';33^727 over the amount of the whole 
estimate for finishing it, it appears by Assembly document for 1844, No. 177, page 
53, that it now requires 8430,740 to compiete it. 

Again, bv the same it appears that on the Genesee Yallev Canal, which was to 
cost 81,890,614,12, there has been expended 83,^03,000— $1,312,000 more than 
the original estimate, and yet 81,322,()00 is required to complete it. Now one of 
two things is certain — either that the estimates were made in good faith, or that 
they were not. If made by the Commissioners in good faith, the fact shows they 
were grossly incompetent to perform tbe duties of their othce. It will not do to 
say their Engineers erred. They should have employed none to make estimates 
upon whom reliance could not be placed. That was their business. To employ en- 
gineeis who were worthy of the public confidence, and then to see that their exam- 
inations and estimates could be relied on. For this they were appointed and paid 
liberal salaries. It will not do to say that the plans of the work were changed after 
the estimates were made. If they were, the Commissioners must have made the 
change, and by what authority did they venture upon a change of plan requiring an 
additional expenditure of more than fifteen, millions of dollars. Surely, neither 
the Legislature nor the people ever advised any such change. If then the 
Commissioners were honest, they were utterly incompetent. The other supposition 
weneednotmake. Let them shelter themselves under itifthey prefer the alternative. 

But to return to the year 1834. In the Commissioners' report of that year, the 
necessity of constrnctinii double locks u])on the Erie Canal eastward of Syracuse, 
is urged upon the Legislature in the extract given above. 

The recommendation was not adopted by the Leoislature of thai year, and in his 
annual message to the next Legislature, Governor Slarcy recommends the enlarge- 
ment of the Erie Canal. In accordance with the views of the Governor, a bill was 
introduced in the Assemblv by the Hon. David Wager, passed in that body by a 
vote of 86 aves to 16 noes, and in the Senate by an unanimous vote. It will be re- 
marked that at this time both the Houses of the Legislature, with the Governor, 
were, by a very large majority, democratic. The following are sections of that 
law, the whole of which can be found in the session laws of 1S35, at page 313 : 

"§1. The Canal ComtnissioDPrs are hereby authorized and directed to enlarge and iuiprovp tbe 
Erie Canal, and construct a double set of Lift-Locks therein, as soon as the Canal Board may be of 
opinion tlial thepwtiUc interest r^qidrcs such imprfrcenieni. 

"§2. The dimensions to which the Canal and Lucks shall be enlarged shall be oeterminedby the 
Canal Board. 

"§3. In passiniT cities or villages, and at other places, an independent canal may be construcied 
instead of enlarging the present works if the Canal Board shall decide that Uie public iD^er4f^t will 
be thereby promoted." 

This act, passed by a Legislature composed of the partisans of Samuel Young, 
Jonas Earll,.ir. and Silas Wright, commenced the work which Mr. Young designates, 
" The ruinous and reckless career of legislation'' which the people of iliis State 
" quietly looked on from year to year andwitnessed with stolid indifference.'" And 
indeed, much cannot lie said in favor of a law giving to a Canal Board such as we 
have neen the one then in ofT.ce, the power to enlarge the Erie Canal as soon as 
they saw fit, and to any size that they should deem proper, and all this witliout a 
question as to the cost of the work or the ability of the resources of the Stale to 
meet it. Those who rail at the nnagnitude of the expenditurtsupon oar works of 
internal improvement, will do well loremember this "recWess" legislation, and the 
fact that the Canal Board who were to determine when to commence the culargc- 
raent and the dimensions of the enlarged work, consisted of Jolin Tracy, Azariah 
C. Flagg, William Campbell, John A. Dix, Greene C. Bronson, Stephen Van Rens- 
selaer, Samuel Young, William C. Bouck, Jonas Earll, Jr. and ^''-chael Hoftman 



—all of whom, exceptiiifj Stc]ilieii Vnii Rensselaer, who was not an acliiig coin- 
niissioner then were and still are members of the party which now plants upon the 
unfinished cnnals its standard with the stop-law of 1812 emblazoned upon its folds. 
In pursuance of" the law, the Canal Commissioners prepared their surveys and 
estimates of expense, and at the next meeting of the Legislature the Canal Board 
rei)orted that they had decided, under the {)rovisions of the law, to enlarge the ca- 
nal so as to give itseven feet of depth and seventy feet in width at the surAxce of the 
water, and Uwy slate that the ex])cnse of the enlargement will be $12,410,150,17. 
Mr. Comptroller Flagg. at present a very distinguisiied opponent to the policy of 
completing the public works, in his report that year states the necessity of enlarg- 
ing the Erie Canal. How well the Legislature then appreciated the services of the 
Canal Comhiissionerj^, may be gathered from the fiict that a law was passed that 
year adding five hundred dollars per annum to their salaries. Indeed, the public 
were not yet prepared to doubt that their facts and estimates were worthy of some 
reliance. The Canal Board in their report for the next year say, (Sen. Doc. 1837, 
No. 53, page 2,) : 

" It is the opinion of the Canal Board ihat it is for the intcrrst of iho Slate to proceed wiili thn 
iMilaigenipnl oi iho Canal so thai it may be completed sooner than is contemplated by ilie Act of 
May 11, 1835." Ancl again, at page 4 — 

" In the Report made by the Canal Board to the LogiMaturr, on the 26th January, 183G, before 
referred to, it is said at pa^e 5 — ' the aggreirale of the esn'mates including- the cost of a double set of 
Lift-Locks, on the whole Tine, is for the largest canal S'l2,4lG,150 17~cqual loS"34,204 30 per mile.' 
This estimate was for a canal of seven feet depth of water, and seventy feet width of siirlace. So 
far as tliese estiniaies have been tested, by nutting the same kind of worii under contract, thcij hava 
been found to be reviarlcahlij corrccl." 

The Canal Commissioners agree with the Canal Board in these statements. In 
their report, [Assembly Doc. 1837, No. 73] they say: 

" The estimated cost of the work under contract, exclusiv'c of diynr.tjes, is ;ft'3,035,087 44." And 
on page 24 — "The work for the cnlargeuienl and improvement now under contract comprises the 
most difficult and expensive part ofthe line t'ro;ii Albany to Lockpori." Again, on page 23 : — 
. " The Coiiunissioners deem it their duty to slate that there ari- several places on the Caaal where 
its immediate cnlaigemeni Would be advaniageou.-i to the navigation." 

They then recommend putting under coniracl the enlargement in the Mohawk 
Valley, at the city of Ulica, and the Mountain Ridge at Lockpori, at as early a day aii 
is consistent with the state of the finances of the 8ta(e. 

In the Governor's annual message to the Legislature in 1838, [Ass. Doc. 1838, 
No. 2, page, 17 and 18,] he says : 

" The Commissioners are devoting all the means placed at their control to the enlirjtemenl of tho 
Erie Canal." Again: — " The best inlercsls of tl;e Slate appeal to yf)a with great earnestness to 
provide I'or the early completion of this impoilaiit improvement. I am persuaded that a laryersiinj 
than the present appropriation rniirht be advantageou.sly expended witlioat causinjr interruplii^n or 
delays to the transportation on this Canal. In those seasons ofthe year when business is most ac- 
tive, consideial)le inconvenience has already been felt on account of the inadequacy of this Canal." 

Tins was then democratic doctrine. The recommendation was complied with, 
by a hill reported in llic Assembly, then having a Whig majority, appro])nating one 
million of dollars for the enlargement. Having passed the House in this form it 
was amended in the Senate, which h.ad then a lariic democratic majority, so as fo 
appropriate four millions lo be exj^endeddiiring the year, instead ofone,aiul the bill 
so amended became a law. 

With this addition to the means of jirosecuting the work of enlargement, the 
ComiTiissioners went on putting the work under contract. In the next annual rc- 
])ort. [Ass. doc. 1839, No. 80, ])age 21.] tliey express the opinion that all the work 
on (he enlargement, not under contract, should be put under contract in the course 
ofthe years 1839 and 1810. They further state that the work actually under con- 
tract is estimated to cost $10,405,913 38, exclusive of engineering and land damages. 

In their report in 1840, [Ass. doc. No. 00, page 70,] the same commissioners re- 
port the amotmt of work under contract on the enlargement at $10,683,550 05, and 
state the aniount necessary to complete the existing contracls at 530,500,991 02. In 
the spring of that year, the democratic Canal Commissioners who had previously 
had charge of the public works were displaced and a Wbig board elected, who con- 



tinned in office until lSi'2. During tlie time of tficir continuance in office new con- 
Iracls were made noon the Erie canal enlargement to the amount of $1,092,07015.* 
[A.ssem. No. 116, 1844.] With this exception, all the contracts entcrerl into by the 
State for the enlargement of the Erie canal, have hcen made by •commissioners who 
sympathise with the Locofoco candidates for Gvivcrnor and Canal Commissioners 
before the people, and yet it appears that there has already been expended on the 
Erie canal enlargement, which was to cost $12,410,150 17," the sum of 813,29!, 616,t 
[See Ass. doc. of 1844, No. 177, page 17,] and the work i • still unfinished, and if we 
may believe the report of the committee on canals in the Senate, in 1844, [Sen. Doc. 
1844, No. 93, page 44,] " no one believes it is more than half accomplished on the 
PLAN UNDERTAKEN," apd the good people of the State are desired to permit all 
that has been done to perish until they have, by a direct tax paid up the principal 
and interest of the debt incurred in the buiMing'of the work thus far. 

Such is the brief history of the public works stopped in their progress by the law 
of 1842. If the works were improvidentU' commenced, by whom were they com- 
menced ? The men who wielded the jfolitical power of the Stale from 1834 to 
1840, contrived the projects — sent their own officers and engineers to make exam- 
inations and estimates, reported the probable expense to the Legislature and re- 
commended the laws which were passed for their adoption, ancl now, when time 
has demonstrated that either gross ignorance or gross fraud has been at the foun- 
dation of every one of their estimates — when the State has expended already more 
money in carrying out their plans, by millions, than the whole were to cost, and 
yet not half the. work is done, and the half already performed is incapable of use 
until the remainder is finished, the same politicians, who then thought no expendi- 
ture extravagant, can rail like fishwomen at "the ruinous and reckless career of 
legislation" which only carried into effect their own recommendations. Nor is 
this all. They seek to fetter the Stale during all future time by constitutional pro- 
visions which will prevent these unfinished works being ever made available. In 
the report of the committee of the Senate, by :}:Rf)bert Deniston, March 21, 1844, 
which speaks the sentiments of the party of which he is a member, and which was 
lauded to the skies by the Albany Argus and the Albany Atlas, the organs of the 
two factions of the democratic party, we find the following conclusions at page 59, 
[Sen. doc. No. 98, Report of Com. on Canals.] 

'i The Cotnmitlet! wnuki come to the following conclusions: 

"1. Tde tolls of the Canals and revenue of the Slate by the Act of March 29, 1842, enlitleJ an 
Act to provide for paying the debt and preserving the credit of the State, are pledged to the public 
creditors; and thaikw, with all its guarantees and pledges, must be rigidly observed until our 
debt be paid. 

" 2. The pulilic works cannot be resuined without a resort to additional direct taxation, to which 
the peoiile wii,[, not and ought not to submit. 

"3. The S;ate having entered upon the construction of the unfinished canals without a full know- 
ledge of ihnir cost and demerits having been Communicati-d to the people, the Legislature out^ht nnt 
to appropriate any 'm.nn''yy to be expcwled in tJuir cons/ruction until Ike People, who have lo fool the bills, 
in the exercise oflhelr sovereign ipoioer coiavi'ind it to be done ; and the Commiitez will not recommend a 
direct tax to preserve them. 

" 4. The inteiests of the people require no legislation on the subjects referred at this time." 

These conclusions are avowed by the democratic party as its doctrines. In the 
address recently ptd^lished by the convention held at Syracuse, which nominated 
Silas Wright for Governor, and Jonas Earll and other enemies of the canal policy 
for Canal Commissioners, we find the following resolution: 

" Ri.solved, That we proclaim our uncompromising adherence lo the cebt-paying policy of 1842. 
It is the policy of integriiy, pjiriotism, and public faith. It is the policy which is to redeem the 
State from her heavy debt and her financial embarrassments, to give her hereafter the control of her 
now crippled resources, and to enable her to fulfill her.high and glorious destiny. We commend, 
therefore, to the favorable considcrniion of the people and of those whom they «hall elect to office, 
the Con?tiluiional Amendments adopted at the last session of the Legislature and now in course of 
publication throughout (h<i Slate. By them, " the pledges and guarantees of the act entitled ' An 
act to provide for paying thedebts and preserving the credit of the Stale,' passed March 29, 1842, are 

' This inclu.li-s all tho conrracts made by Samuel B. Riigglns (whig-) in 1839. 

t This includes all the tolls that have been expended, and the interest paid on all loans, for the Enlargement— of 
which sum the amount received from loans was only 9,343,000 doUara. See Report of the Commissioners of the Ca- 
mil Fund, Assembly Documents, 1844, No. 40, p. 4C. 

i Since renominated lo tlie Senate. 



cuudnneiJ ;" a «;ilul:iiy resiricliou upon the pjvver of ilie Lfgiilaturc to involve the Sfaic in excessive 
debts or liabiliiirs i< i.!i|i..i,cd." 

- Nothiiiir can be plainer. If the party can succeed the unfinished canals are to 
remain, in the Imigiiage of the'Sccrclary of State, [See Ass. doc. for 1811, No. 31, | 
" unfinished woriis forsaken by God and man, the yawning Golgotha of wasted 
human toil," with none to care for them but a wcli paid board of Canal Commis- 
sioners, who have joined hands in urging u})on them ihis fote. 

In o])position to this poljcy is arrayed the system urged forward by the Whigs. 
They insist upon the economical completion of all the imftnishcd works at as early 
a day as a judicious expenditure of the pui)lic means will permit. They do not 
ask that the lavish and extravagant metliods of construction pursued by Bouck, 
Earll & Co. should be carried out — that locks costing one hundred thousand dollars 
should be built, where those requiring an expenditure of one-quarter of the sum 
would answer equally well ; but they do believe, whatever may have been the true 
policy of the State before the commencement of the present unfinished works, if the 
whole amount required to complete them had been fairly ascertained, yet that now 
when eighteen millions of its treasure have been expended upon them, hardly one 
cent of which is rendered available, and when the further expenditure of 'three 
millions can bring the whole into useful employment, the only judicious and pru- 
dent course to pursue is, to complete what has been commenced. By the report 
of the canal committee in the Assem.bly, April 23, 1844, [Ass. doc. No. 177,J it is 
shown that the sum of ^.1,350,000 will be sufiicient to complete a line of enlarged 
locks from Albany to Bullalo and otherwise improve the present canal, so as to ad- 
mit the passage of boats carrying one hundred tons, and thus " secure substantially 
all the advantages which would result by the enlargement proposed by the original 
plan." Such a completion of the Erie canal enlargement, the Whig party believe 
is demanded by the public wants. 

It also appears by the document last quoted, that $436,7 10 is required to complete 
the Black river canal and thus bring into operation a work upon which has been 
expended $1,802,064 66; and that Jipl,322,000 will complete the Genesee Valley 
canal, upon which there has been ex])ended $3,203,000. So that the further ex- 
penditure of three million one hundred and eight thousand seven hundred and forty 
dollars will render available the eighteen millions three hundred and fifty-eight 
thousand already expended, and ailord us substantially the benefits which induced 
the State to enter upon the construction of these works. This the Whigs hold 
should be done. 

But it is contended by the friends of the stop law of 1843, that the State is largely 
in debt, and that its debt must be paid before it advances one step forward. "Le't 
us look for a moment at the fact. The revenue derived from the canals during 
the seaso^n of navigation of 1813, was, as appears by Assembly doc. 177, page 16* 
*$2,081,590, and we are there informed that for a period of ten years there has'been 
an average annual increase of $78,704. After deducting from the revenue thus 
stated, the expense of repairs, the interest upon the canal debt and the sum of 
$200,000 per annum payable to the general fund, upon the supposition that (he 
business of the canal would increase in no greater ratio than for the previous ten 
years, there would, during the present year, be a surplus sufliciently largo to defray 
the interest upon a loan of two-thirds of the whole sum requisite to complete all 
the public works in the manner suggested, and the next year's surplus would be 
sufiicient to pay the interest upon all the money required and leave a large balance 
applicable to the discharge of the debt. Nor is this view of the subject an extrava- 
gant one. Indeed, it falls far short of the results which may fairly be anticipated. 
It is well remarked, in the docinncnt last quoted, at page 28, "The report of the 
trade ar.d tonnage of the canals shows a vast increase of commerce from the west. 
There are many reasons why this should increase much more rapidly than it has 
•heretofore. Until recently the Ohio canal was the only important work connect- 
ing with the upper lakes, which was finished. The business on this canal is con- 

* The Sjriacuse Convoniion (hat nominated Silas Wright, in their " Ueinorratic Address," say ibat ihe lolls on 
tlie Canals for the fiscal year ending September oOth, 1844, " will not be less than «2,360,«10." 



'--leiiilly and rapidly increasing, as is shown by ttic amount ol" UAU collected. Ti 
lollowino" very important canals have been recently finished or are in the course of 
completion. Ths Beaver canal, 80 miles ; Wabash .and Eric, 270 : Miami Exten- 
sion, 200, and Illinois canal 100, making a total of 650 miles." Again: "These 
great works and the rivers with which they are connected, traversing, as they do, 
the most fertile parts of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, and being in the aggregate 
nearly twice the length of the Erie canal, must create a vast addition to the ton- 
nage of that canal." 

Yet with all these considerations, we are cautioned not-to proceed in the works 
already begun, and the whole enginery of party discipline is brought forward to 
restrain all future Legislatures from placing our public improvements in the condi- 
tion which the wants of the people of the State require. And as a portion of the 
svstem, its promoters, wliile sanctioning a direct tax upon the people under pre- 
tence of sustaining the credit, refuse to apply $8-1,000, received by the State froi 
the distributioia^ law, which has lain ever since the present Administration came in 
powei', snugly deposited in a favoriie bank in Albany. 

x\t the approaching election, the people are to determine which system of policy 
they approve. The issue is fairly made, and it is before them. In Silas Wright 
is presented a candidate for Grovernor well known and vouched for as in favor of 
the stop-law policy of 1842. In the nominees for Canal Commissioners they hav( 
presented Jonas Earll Jr. Daniel P. Bisseil, Stephen Clark, and Nathaniel Jones 
the latter of whom, as one of the Commissioners of the Canal Fund in 1844, 
reported to the Legislature, [See Ass- ijoc. 177, page 28,] "That there is not the 
sliuhtest necessity for going on with the enlargement, or doing any thing more than 
to keep the canal in good repair" — and the former of whom aided in making the 
orio-inal estimates upon which the enlargement was i-esolvcd upon, and who led the 
State into the fruitless expenditure of more than eighteen millions upon three works 
which were to cost but Sl5,37''),201 to complete, and now recommends their total 
abandonment. If the people choose to elect them, they will without doubt carry 
out this manifestation of the public approval of their views. 

On the other hand, the Whigs offer candidates who are identified with the public 
improvement policy ; who if elected will prosecute in an economical manner the' 
W'orks already comaienced, and thus render the treasure already ex; nded upon 
ihem available, and provide the necessary means from increased revenues to dis- 
char<re ihe canal debt. They do not now stop to inquire whether it was providently- 
contracted. The party now in power originated it, and it exists. The Whigs 
believe the true policy is, to inquire what is now to be done to compensate for th( 
expenditure which occasioned it? and they find an answer to their inquiries m an 
ONWARD MOVEMENT. Let this be 'borne in mind and we shall then fairly 
meet the question at the polls— SHALL THE SYSTEM OF PUBLIC IM- 
PROVEMENTS GO ON, OH BE FOREVER STRANGLED? 

j^OTr. — By an act of the last Legislature, the Canal Commissioners are required 
to protect or secure from injury the unlinished public works on the lateral Canals, 
and the materials for the same. (Session Laws 1844, page 412, ^5.) The cost of 
such protection for the Genesee Valley Canal is estimated in the Report of the 
Canal Committee at 610,000, (Ass. Doc. 1844, No. 177, page 66.) This is for 
the protection of work and materials which cost the State 81,424,238. "The 
" propriety of this appropriation," says the Report, "is too obvious to require 
further explanation." Subsequently a responsible proposition for the protection 
of the Genesee Valley Canal, according to the provisions of the Act, and at the 
price named in the Report, payable according to the terms of the Act, was made 
to Daniel P. Bissell, Actincf Commissioner in charge of that canal. The proposi- 
tion was declined, and the work left exposed to decay and destruction. The Black 
River Canal and the materials delivered for it, which have cost the State !*il,802,- 
064, could have been protected for 85,000, (see same report.) This work also re- 
mains unprotected. t. ^^ W 












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